Forever X
by nightdweller
Summary: When the institute is destroyed, Rogue is left alone. When she finally lets go, her past comes back to haunt her, making her question what loyalty really means. Will she step up and support those who betrayed her first? Romy, Jett, Kitty/Lance
1. Prolouge: Direct Hit

Forever X  
  
Prologue: Direct Hit  
  
Rogue glanced around the gardens before dropping down from her balcony. No one was walking even though it was a beautiful spring morning. Rogue yawned as she crossed the grass. No eighteen year old is meant to be up at this time, she thought as she scrambled over the wall. She heard the motorbike before she saw it come round the corner. On it was her boyfriend; the sexy, the gorgeous Remy Lebeau, his hair blowing in the wind as he sped towards her. He drew to a halt beside her.  
"Ya late Cajun," Rogue said irritably. Remy smiled.  
"Remy knows chere but ain't he worth the wait," he replied, oozing self-assurance.  
Rogue grinned as she jumped on the back.  
"Lets go swamp rat." Gambit replied by gunning the engine.  
  
##X##  
  
Just outside of Bayville, inside a base hidden by the mountain walls, two men sat having a meeting. A short man with dark hair in his late thirties was leaning back in his chair, completely composed, not taking his eyes off the man sitting opposite him. The second man was wearing a military uniform richly decorated in medal and was engrossed in the document he was reading.  
"As you can see, General Sherman, if we allow this mutant problem to escalate, it could mean the end of mankind as we know it," the dark haired man said as he adjusted his expensive suit.  
"I don't know Mr Rhisdon," the General answered not taking his eyes from the paper. "I agree that mutants are a problem but the last thing we need to do is give the mutants an excuse to attack." Michael Rhisdon stood up abruptly and moved round the desk to stand at the General's shoulder.  
"Now, General, imagine. It is only a matter of time before mutants rise up," Rhisdon placed a hand on the General's shoulder. "The mutants will stop at nothing to gain complete control," images filled General Sherman's head accompanied with Rhisdon's narration. "They will pillage, burn, kill just as it says in the report," people screaming all around him. The military hero could almost feel the heat of the flames. Everything was so vivid it was almost real. Suddenly the images cut off. "You can stop that General. We can hit the mutants at the heart, where the biggest threat is. Together we can destroy the X-men. All I need is your authorisation." Rhisdon slid the paper towards the General who was shocked by what he had seen. In his mind it was what the future would be like.  
"Hand me a pen," he muttered. He signed quickly.  
"Thank you General. You are doing the right thing for America," Rhisdon said, grinning from ear to ear.  
"How soon can it be done," the General said as he readied himself to leave.  
"Less than half an hour sir," the General nodded before leaving the base. Rhisdon quickly scanned the document, basking in his own superiority. There was a knock on the door and a young sergeant stepped in.  
"Everything is ready sir." "Good. Gather your troops, they should all witness this." "If I may sir, how did you know the General would sign?" the young soldier asked.  
"Instinct, just instinct," Michael Rhisdon said staring at the paper.  
  
##X  
Kurt groaned as he woke. The sun was streaming in through the gap in his curtains illuminating his mess of a room. He rolled away from the offending light and tried to close his eyes. Somehow he just couldn't fall asleep so he bampfed downstairs. No one was about not even Logan.  
"Perfect," Kurt said to himself. "I get virst dibs on ze juice."  
  
##X##  
  
Rogue clung to Remy's waist as they tore down the rode. They had only been out for less than an hour but already felt able to face the rest of the X-men even Jean. Once again Rogue wished she could touch. How long was Remy going to stay with someone who can't even hold hands, skin to skin? Rogue forced the thought from her mind and squeezed tighter to Remy, who smiled and sped up. They stopped halfway to the mansion and sat, arms round each other on the grass bank a little off the road, just listening to the sounds around them.  
Suddenly a deafening noise broke through the bird song making the young couple sit up. Hurtling through the sky were two objects that looked like planes but were flying too low and too fast. Then they started to waver and criss-cross but yet they stayed on target, heading towards the mansion.  
"Missiles," Rogue breathed, full of dread. They climbed on the bike.  
Remy and Rogue sped down the road desperately trying to reach the mansion but with no idea how they could help. Rogue watched in horror as the missiles descended leaving a trail of smoke.  
Suddenly the explosions ripped through the air making Rogue's blood run cold. They were too late.  
  
##X  
(Seconds before impact)  
  
Kurt dropped his glass as he stared out the window. Streaking towards the mansion were two missiles. In those split seconds Kurt made a choice. He bampfed away. Guilt overwhelmed him, making him choke as he thought of all the people he left behind.  
When he reappeared, he fell to his knees crying and suddenly very weary as though he had moved a large load. He looked around him and saw he was in unfamiliar terrain. He was nowhere near Bayville.  
  
##X##  
  
Rogue climbed off the bike as if in a nightmare. Everything had been reduced to rubble. The gates had been blown apart and every tree was flat on the ground. No one could have survived two direst hits.  
Rogue fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands as sobs wracked her body. Remy watched helplessly, utterly shocked by what he saw.  
Images of her friends flashed through Rogue's mind. Gone, they were all gone. She beat her fists on the ground. Her friends, her brother, her family destroyed right in front of her eyes.  
"Chere," a gentle voice said. "Come, we cannot stay here. Whoever did dis will be wantin to inspect their work." Rogue looked up and focused on Remy. "Remy's so sorry my cherie." The Cajun pulled her to his chest and together they stood. Suddenly a thought struck Rogue.  
"There's something Ah have to do."  
  
##X  
(Two years after the destruction of the mansion)  
  
Nothing was there where the mansion had stood. The wall had been rebuilt and the gate replaced but no one went there. A girl stood on the cliff edge letting the wind play with her auburn hair as her emerald eyes looked down at the waterfall. She turned and went to the middle of the green field where a stone pillar stood. On it was all the names of the mutants who had died. Not a trace had been found of them.  
Rogue ran her eyes over the list and saw her own name. To the rest of the world she had died when they did. From the pocket of her trench coat Rogue pulled out a photograph. It featured the whole of the X-men all smiling, all happy, all alive. Rogue ran her hand over it.  
"Hey," she said. "It's been a while, two years to the day." Rogue closed her eyes imagining she could hear Kitty's laugh, Kurt's jokes, Logan's growl as if they were all alive.  
"But ya not," Rogue admitted. "Ah miss ya but it's time Ah let go. Ya gone but Ah'll remember ya. Ah'm sorry." She kissed the photo before carefully placing it in front of the stone and weighing it down with pebbles. Slowly she stood and walked away.  
  
Two nights later the gate was pulled open to admit another visitor. It was a short man carrying a duffel bag and smoking a cigar.  
Logan looked round the site. They mansion was gone, just like it was on the news. He crossed to the pillar with all the names of the mutants. His own name was there etched in stone.  
One second he was sound asleep in the mansion, the next he was in northern Canada. Had it been the same with everyone else?  
On the floor in front of the stone was a photo. His heart stopped when he saw it was of the X-men. Cautiously he sniffed it.  
"Stripes?" Logan said out loud. He turned the picture over to see if anything was written on the back. There in strong handwriting were the words:  
  
Forever X.  
  
so wot do ya think.ipromise to finish To Have and To Hold soon. Don't forget to review. 


	2. Chapter 1: Reunited

Chapter 1: Reunited.  
  
(Five years after the destruction of the mansion)  
  
A flash Italian car sped down the road, kicking up leaves until it came to a screeching halt outside the gates to where the mutant mansion used to stand.  
Out stepped a young man wearing designer Italian shoes and an expensive suit. His skin was tanned and his hair was dark brown. Covering his eyes were a pair of ruby red sunglasses, glinting in the sunlight.  
Scott Summers the nineteen year old college student had become Scott Botachelli the twenty-four year old lawyer, the youngest partner in Zona Associata, situated in Milan.  
Scott moved through the already open gate to find all he remembered gone. He recalled seeing the news report saying that two or three explosions had destroyed the Xavier Institute, killing over twenty mutants, though not a trace of their bodies could be found. The pictures showed the ground churned and gutted by the missiles but now it was smooth, plain grass.  
Another person was crouched in front of the memorial stone. Scott started across the grass and as he got closer he realised that the figure was female with long red hair cascading down her back. His heart stopped when the figure rose hearing his approach and turned.  
"Jean," Scott whispered not believing his eyes. Jean Grey smiled and ran the distance between them to throw her arms around his neck. Scott squeezed her tightly, glad to see her after five years even if he did know that she was alive. He thought he would never let go. Finally Jean drew back to look up at him.  
"Wow," Jean breathed. "Look at you, all done up in your suit. So where did you end up?" Scott blushed and fiddled with his suit. "I've been in Italy. I'm a lawyer. What's new with you?" Jean held up her left hand and Scott felt his heart sink. On her third finger was a large diamond ring.  
"Well, I've been in Ireland studying Genetics and, as you can see, I'm getting married," Jean said excitedly. Scott forced on a huge smile.  
"That's great," Scott managed. Jean was about to launch into a full explanation when they heard a car pull up outside.  
Through the gate stepped Logan, closely followed by Ororo with Beast and finally Charles Xavier strode in, no longer in a wheelchair.  
The two groups met and exchanged hugs and handshakes while asking where they had been. Beast had found himself in Brazil, Ororo had ended up in Africa, Logan had been roaming all over the country and the Professor had been in England where he had found a cure. Scott was surprised to find the Professor was nearly as tall as he was.  
"I'm glad you have all responded to my letters," the Professor said when they calmed down. "I'm sorry I didn't sign them but I thought it unwise to do so. I am happy to see you are all fine after five years. I know it could have been a lot worse." "What happened Charles, how did we end up all over the world?" Logan growled.  
"I believe that Kurt had a power surge so that when he teleported away he took us with him Unfortunately he couldn't control where we all landed so we were separated," the Prof explained. Scott found himself nodding, it explained everything. The Professor continued. "I can only speculate to what feelings Kurt had at the time because I have been unable to discover his whereabouts. I have not been able to build another Cerebro because all the plans were in the Institute lower levels. I only just managed to find all of you." "Why Professor? Why have you decided to find us all after all this time?" Scott asked. "For the first few months I was in Italy, I used to think that that you would come to pick me up in the X-jet." "Scott, I was going to do exactly that when I first arrived I England but then I saw the reaction of the world. They were all shocked, the General who ordered it was dealt with quickly by the government. The mutant registration debate was immediately dropped. The first mutant senators appeared. It seemed that mutants were finally given a voice and an opinion. If the X-men were found to be alive, mutants would loose all that they gained with our deaths. I thought that it would be better for mutant kind that the X-men remained dead and buried." "Then why are we here now?" Logan asked irritably.  
"Because I thought wrong," the Professor admitted. "Mutants are growing tense and the government weary. If anything happens and is not covered up it could result in the war between mutants and humans. Various sources have reported that an unknown person is causing certain events in an attempt to start this war but every time it is stopped or covered up. This person is also said to be an influential member of the government. You are here today so I can ask who will stand with me against this new threat? Who will rejoin the X-men?" The Professor looked around the group. Everyone stared back at him.  
Logan's voice broke the silence.  
"I'm with you Charles." Beside him Ororo nodded in agreement.  
"I am too." Beast sighed and nodded his consent. Scott glanced at Jean and saw that she was fiddling with her ring. Slowly Scott enclosed her hand in his, ceasing her fidgeting. She looked up at him and nodded slightly.  
"We're in," Scott said. The Professor nodded and started walking to the cars with Hank, Logan and Ororo. It took Scott a minute to realise he still held Jean's hand. Flustered he let go and caught up with the Professor.  
"Who owns this land now?" Scott asked him.  
"I have no idea," the Professor said honestly. "I tried to find out but they don't want to be found." Scott glanced round the place that was once his home before getting in his car. He could still feel the warmth of Jean's hand in his.  
  
##X##  
  
As Ororo drove the large and expensive car down the winding road Logan passed a rectangular piece of paper to Charles. It was a picture of the x-men as they used to be.  
  
"It's Rogue's scent." Logan said shortly. Xavier frowned. So far Rogue had evaded his detectives.  
  
"Find her." Xavier ordered. Logan nodded in response as the car halted outside the airport. 


	3. Chapter 2: Inflight Thoughts

Chapter 2; In flight Thoughts  
  
Jean fidgeted in her seat. Beside her Scott was sound asleep not even snoring. Tom, her fiancé, snored.  
  
Jean glanced out the small oval window into the darkness trying to conjure up Tom's kind face but her eyes were drawn back to the man beside her on this flight to Europe.  
He was so peaceful, even with his eyes covered by his glasses. He shifted in his sleep so his head now rested on her arm. A stray piece of silky brown hair fell across his face so Jean gently pushed it back with her left hand just as the stewardess walked past. The blonde hostess picked up on the ring.  
  
"Ahh," the blonde cooed. "Congratulations, you two make a great couple."  
  
And with that she walked off, giving Jean no time to correct her. Unable to sleep the redhead tried to watch the movie that was on but her mind kept wandering back the stewardess' words.  
  
If the past five years had been different, if they had stayed together, could this have been Scott's ring on her finger? She looked down at him again and her heart skipped a beat. Was there still something there? When he had grasped her hand back at the mansion it had felt so right, as if it were meant to be there.  
  
Jean dismissed the thought. She love Tom and she was going to marry him. Scott was her past but Tom was her future.  
  
Scott woke with a start. He glanced quickly out the window to realise they were still flying. Beside him Jean had fallen asleep looking like a heavenly goddess with her red hair spilling over her shoulders.  
  
Scott's mind went back to when they had met again after so many years. For a brief moment, when she stood up, the sun streamed out behind her, engulfing her in a golden glow as if she had stepped out of a flame. He would always remember how she looked then.  
  
His eyes were drawn to the ring on her finger. Could it have been his if these last five years had been different?  
  
He looked at her serene face and sighed. It was pointless to dream even if her hand fitted his perfectly. 


	4. Chapter 3: The Cat's Meow

Chapter 3: The Cats Meow.  
  
Scott and Jean wandered through the street of Paris following up on the various leads the Professor had found in his search for Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde. So far there had been nothing but failure.  
  
"Are we even sure she's here?" Scott asked sceptically.  
  
"The Professor has tracked her this far and come on. Kitty would love to be in Paris. So where are we going now?"  
  
"A girl fitting Kitty's description has been spotted coming in and out of the designer clothing store, Belle," Scott read form the file the private detective had presented to them. "They have their studio upstairs."  
  
"Great," Jean smiled. "It's the perfect place for Kitty to be."  
  
The Belle store was massive but it was one of a kind. The pair made their way staright towards the black haired sales assistant who was carefully watching a young couple.  
  
"Excuse me," Scott said. The assistant fixed her dark eyes on him and her red lips curved into a smile. She couldn't have been more that twenty-two.  
  
"'ow may I 'elp you?" she said with a thick accent.  
  
"We're looking for this girl," Scott produced a picture form his pocket. "She may be calling herself Kitty or Katherine Pryde."  
  
The girl glanced at the photo and her countenance completely changed. Her smile slid off her face as her eyes darted between Scott and Jean. Jean sensed the sudden panic coming form her.  
  
"Please. We don't mean her any harm. We're old friends. My name is Jean Grey and this is Scott Summers," she said soothingly. The girl stared at her.  
  
"One moment, please," the girl crossed over to another woman taking the photo and leaving them alone.  
  
"Kitty is here," Jean whispered. Scott nodded as he watched the girl talking quickly with the older woman all the while shooting glances their way.  
  
"What happens if they don't tell us?" Scott muttered.  
  
"There's a café across the street. We can stay there 'till closing," Jean replied as the girl returned.  
  
"I am sorry monsieur, mademoiselle but I 'ave not seen dis girl," she said looking very guilty.  
  
"Thank you," Scott said returning the picture to his pocket. "If you do see her please tell her we were looking for her. I assure you she will know us."  
  
The two left quickly and took a seat at the café with two frothy coffees intent on waiting it out.  
  
It was almost dark when the shop closed. Staff left in groups until finally a petite brunette stepped out hastily glancing round. Scott and Jean stepped out of the shadows so that they were in plain sight.  
  
Kitty's face erupted into a huge smile as she dashed towards them. She threw her arms round Jean as tears spilled out her blue eyes.  
  
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry I didn't come out earlier but I wasn't sure it was you. I, like, work upstairs. I'm training to be a designer."  
  
"That's great Kitty," Jean said excitedly.  
  
"Wow it's great to see you," she burbled as she hugged Scott around the chest being unable to reach his neck. "So what's up?"  
  
"The Professor is recalling the X-men," Scott said. "He couldn't find you so he sent us."  
  
"We're not going to force you into this but you know that we would never get back together without a reason," Jean explained.  
  
Kitty glanced up at Scott then back at Jean.  
  
"My boss is going to, like, kill me." 


	5. Chapter 4: In The Dark

Chapter 4: In the Dark.  
  
"I hate flying," Jean muttered.  
  
"Yeah," Kitty said as she crammed a packet of Pringles before grabbing Scott's roll as he slept. Jean watched this tiny brunette with pixie like features stuff her face in a amazement.  
  
"Calm down Kitty. When was the last time you ate?"  
  
Kitty thought for a minute.  
  
"Two days ago," she said finally.  
  
"What!!!" Jean exploded. From the other side of her Scott awoke with a start.  
  
"Well, I ended up in Paris cos of Kurt and I didn't have any money so I managed to find one of those hostel things. They got me through high school then fixed me up with a placement. I used the money to pay them back and get a small flat. By then the food budget was a bit tight."  
  
"God Kitty," Jean mumbled.  
  
"The people at work knew I was a runaway so that's why Lauren wouldn't tell you where I was. So," she leaned across Jean and saw Scott was asleep. "How are you and Scott getting on?"  
  
"I'm going to be a married woman," Jean protested flashing her ring in front of Kitty's nose.  
  
"Yeah so. You can look. And no one is going to be more right for you than Sleeping Beauty there."  
  
Jean stayed silent and kitty smiled into her cup of coffee.  
  
"Hey Jean, has the Professor mentioned… umm…. Lance?" Kitty asked innocently.  
  
Jean shook her head.  
  
"Don't worry, Lance and the Brotherhood aren't going to stay quiet for long."  
  
##X##  
  
It was pitch black outside the government compound. Two figures stood casually on the corner. One was a young man in his early twenties yet he had unusual silver white hair. He was slim but well muscled. His companion was thicker set with long brown hair falling over his shoulders. His brown eyes wearily searched the night as his friend chatted away.  
  
"Why do we have to wait outside in the freezing cold and she gets to go inside?"  
  
"Because she's the boss Pietro," Lance replied.  
  
Pietro drew his trench coat around him and leant back against the wall as Lance buried his hands in his black jeans. The silver haired man looked down at his shoes.  
  
"Do you think she's any better," he asked finally.  
  
Lance shrugged. "I don't know." 


	6. Chapter 5: Der Fuzzy One

Chapter 5: Der Fuzzy One  
  
Kitty sat between Scott and Jean on the bus, chatting away not caring if she got a response.  
Scott stared out at the German countryside, trying to think of what to say when they reached their destination.  
  
"So where are we going?" Kitty asked turning to Jean.  
  
"The private detective the professor hired has reports of a 'blue demon' at the circus we are going to," Jean explained.  
  
"Uhh I hate the circus," Kitty whined. "Clowns are soo creepy."  
  
Scott tried unsuccessfully to disguise his laugh. Kitty gave him an indignant look before smacking him on the arm. At the same time Scott felt an unseen whack over the head. He leaned round kitty to see Jean's tiny smile, her green eyes twinkling with one eyebrow raised.  
In the end he sat back rubbing his head, not noticing the knowing smile on Kitty's face.  
  
##X##  
  
The three X-men wandered around the back stage area of the circus, avoiding the clowns that leered at them. Scott ignored Kitty's cringing and jumping, choosing instead to search over the heads of the performers.  
  
"Is he here?" he asked Jean..  
  
"Yes," she shouted over the din, " but I'm not sure where."#  
  
Scott sighed. "Can't you just fine out. You know, do a little digging."  
  
Jean frowned up at him before closing her eyes. Kitty grabbed her before she walked into the path of a practising fire breather. Suddenly Jean's eyes flared open.  
  
"He's on the east side of the camp."  
  
##X##  
  
Kurt stared up at the ceiling of his trailer. Another show, another town, another day. What was the point? They were never going to come for him. Five years he had waited and for five years no one came. He knew they were alive, it explained his fatigue, it explained why no traces were found but he was never going to see them again. Rogue, Scott, Kitty did they even care? A lone tear trickled down his blue, furry face.  
  
##X##  
  
Scott pushed his way through the circus; oblivious of the looks he received. Kitty simply followed him, passing untouched through the path he had cleared.  
Jean kept her mind open, trying to get a positive connection.  
"Scott," she called neither quietly nor loudly. Nevertheless Scott stopped and turned at her voice. Jean pointed towards a trailer 10 metres away.  
##X##  
  
Kurt jerked up at the knock on the door.  
  
"Los!" (go away) he shouted.  
The door swung open and before Kurt could burst into a flurry of German a petite brunette stepped in closely followed by a red head and a man wearing red sunglasses who closed the door behind him.  
Kurt stared, unable to speak, at the three people crammed into his tiny trailer. Kitty smiled shyly before settling into the seat next to him. Kurt stared at her like she had grown a pair of wings. He hesitantly raised his three-fingered hand and gently touched her cheek with his fingertips. His hand stayed there as her turned to the others, his eyes full of wonder and tears. Slowly he smiled, before turning back to a tearful Kitty and throwing his arms around her. 


	7. Chapter 6: Hide and Seek

Chapter 6: Hide and Seek

A large group sat round the square table in the diner. They had arrived in smaller parties eventually making up three women and four men. They made little noise except a small brown haired girl who was talking quickly to a red head who merely nodded or shook her head. The door opened to admit a short man wearing a leather jacket and a Stetson hat to protect him from the rain.  
Whatever noise that was coming from the stopped immediately. The bald man stood up and gestured to a spare chair next to a figure in a large coat and a hat masking his face.  
Logan removed his hat and sat in the seat offered to him. Ororo smiled and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. Kurt stared at him intently.

"Well Logan?" the Prof said.

"I've found her."

##X##

A few hours later the reassembled X-men stood outside a massive New Orleans warehouse trying not to look suspicious. Walls encircled the building and the gate was shut with a rusty chain.

"Are you sure?" Kitty asked the man next to her. "Who would live here?"

"Exactly," Logan growled. "I've spent the better part of three years trying to find her. She has been covering her trail, obviously she doesn't want to be found."

The Wolverine stepped forward and sniffed the air.

"Something isn't right." He picked up a stone from the floor, hurled it over the gate onto the grass outside the warehouse. A gun popped up and blasted it to smithereens before it hit the floor.

"That could cause a problem." Said Hank. The Professor frowned.

"I think only one of us should go in" he said "so as not to alarm her."

"I'll go." Logan volunteered.

"No, I think you'll be too, erm," The Prof paused searching for the right word, " heavy handed. One of her peers I think."

"I'll go then." Scott piped up. "I'm team leader so she'll listen to me and I think we were friends as well."

"Very well" Charles said. "Jean do you see the power box?" the red head nodded. "Re-rout the power from the defence mechanisms for a few minutes so Scott can get in." The Prof passed an earpiece to Scott. "Move quickly."

The gates swung open, Jean nodded and Scott sprinted through. Nothing fired, nothing moved and Scott reached the door in one piece. It opened easily and admitted him to a large hall with a statue in the centre restricting vision down a badly lit corridor. Two stairways ran off either side meeting in a balcony above it.

"Now how did ya get in here?" a southern drawl asked.

##X##

sorry but there is gonna be a few more short chapters.  
I'll update quicker... promise 


	8. Chapter 7: The Trickster and The Thief

Chapter 7: The Trickster and The Thief

Scott had no time to respond as a bullet sped his way. He rolled forward planting himself in front of the base of the statue. From the shadows of the corridor stepped Rogue. A gun held expertly in her gloved hands. Scott peered round the statue to see her. She was slim to the point of skinniness and her skin was deathly pale. Her face was beautiful even with no make up but it looked as though she was ill, with her green eyes pale and her cheeks hollow. Her characteristic white streaks framed her face as always and her auburn hair fell below her shoulders, as shiny and as youthful as it had been before. He ducked again as a shot clipped where his head had been seconds before.

"Professor," he said urgently. Through the earpiece he received his response.

"Scott don't worry we're coming. Keep her talking, buy us some time."

Scott assessed his situation. If he came out of the cover of the statue in an attempt to reach the stairs, Rogue would shot him immediately. He decided to stay put.

"Rogue." he called. "Rogue what are you doing? It's me, Scott."

"That's a new one Mystique." laughed Rogue, "but ya seem to be forgetting that Scott is dead. And if ya ask me that is a really bad imitation. Ah mean he's a little podgy ain't he?" Scott prodded his stomach as Rogue continued. "Oh shut up Jean, Ah know he's ya boyfriend but it's true." Shocked Scott glanced around and saw no Jean in sight. Just Rogue talking to herself. Alarm bells started ringing in his head. Suddenly the double doors burst open, pushed by something unseen. Lightning flashed in the sky behind the seven figures in the doorway. Rogue raised her weapon and prepared to fire when Kurt stepped forward. The others followed his lead. Rogues eyes narrowed but she didn't lower the gun until it was taken from her grasp by a telekinetic force. Only then did she realize.

Rogue eyes widened before she bolted. She swung herself up the stairs with great agility that the x-men had no time to react. Logan swore colourfully as he tore after her, closely followed by Kitty and Kurt.  
Rogue rounded several corners before reaching an open room. Below her was a seating area with a large screen TV, a pool table and various other items, with a staircase running down to it. The upper level she was on had several doors but she ignored these. Instead she vaulted over the railing and landed catlike. She glanced round before backing calmly into one of the many rooms running off the main area. By the time Logan reached there Rogue had reappeared but this time she had company.

"Well bonjour mon ami." 


	9. Chapter 8: Prices

Chapter 8: Prices

"Thank gawd ya can see them too," Rogue sighed as she sat down her head in her hands.

"Oui chere Remy sees dem." Remy said looking coldly up at Logan as Kitty and Kurt clattered in. Remy's red on black eyes followed them. "Are there any more cherie?" he asked. Rogue nodded as she glared up at the three. Remy moved over to a small intercom. He spoke hurriedly into it before returning to stand with Rogue. He bent down and the couple spoke in hushed whispers. Gambit gently stroked Rogues cheek with a gloved hand as she nodded and smiled. The rest of the x-men burst in the upper level just as a breeze swept through the lower level. Pietro appeared on Rogues other side. Remy straightened as Wanda and John appeared from a corridor on one side just as Lance arrived from a room on the other side. They all stared up at the re-established x-men.

"Ah thought ya were dead," Rogue said viciously. "Ya let me believe ya were dead." Kurt looked shocked.

"Weren't you ported away like the rest of us?" he asked. Rogue eyes bored into his.

"Evidently Ah wasn't," she said coldly. Kurt was taken back by her tone. The Professor started down the stairs.

"Rogue stop it," he ordered. Rogue stood up quickly, her hands clenching into fists. A blue glow sprang up from Wanda's direction as she stepped closer to Rogue, ready to protect her. Remy fingered his cards as Lance, John and Pietro readied themselves.

"How dare ya!" the power thief exploded. "How dare ya come here and tell me what to do! For five years ya've been dead to me! How much time would a phone call or a letter take ya! Do ya have any idea how Ah felt? How long Ah've blamed mahself for what happened to ya?" She paused for breath. The x-men stared at her as her fist slowly uncurled. "I looked for ya," she said sadly her eyes shining with tears as she looked round at her old teammates, all of whom avoided her gaze. She continued angrily. "Me and Evan and everyone looked for ya!"

Storm sprang to life at the mention of Evan's name.

"You know where Evan is?" she gasped desperately.

Rogue's teary but cold eyes met hers.

"Yeah so what if Ah do?"

"That's not fair," Jean exploded. "They're family, you can't keep them apart."

Rogue rounded on her, "Lihke it was fair to keep me and Kurt apart," she said in a rage. "He was all the real family Ah had." Suddenly Rogue staggered back, clutching her head. Remy seized her to stop her from falling. Some of the X-men started quicker down the stairs but were halted by the cold gazes of Rogue's team as they formed a defensive circle round her. Seconds later Rogue stood and staggered from the room watched by Remy. Wanda raised a blue engulfed hand as Kitty sprinted after her but was halted by Lance, who gently touched her arm and shook his head. His eyes lingered on the doorway before turning his attention to his opponents.

##X##

Kitty followed her old friend through a large, heavy door and into a huge bedroom. It was decorated with dark rich tones, with simple furniture and was dimly lit. There was a closed door on one side, which Rogue had disappeared into. On the dresser were the usual things: brush, comb, jewellery, and men's cologne but with them were several framed pictures. One showed Remy and Rogue holding hands in the park, blissfully unaware on the camera. They were looking intently into each other's eyes, not caring about the world around them, just happy to be together. When Kitty looked closer she saw that no gloves covered either hand. They were making skin-to-skin contact. Kitty smiled as she replaced the photo and took another.  
This one showed the team posing for a picture, which, judging by their appearance had been taken sometime before. Pietro had his arm around his sister and was smiling happily. On Wanda's other side was Rogue, the two girls were laughing at some unseen joke. Kitty couldn't help but feel a stab of jealousy at her role being replaced. Remy stood next to Rogue both arms wrapped possessively around her as John smiled manically at the camera. On the end was Lance, looking not as cheerful as the others but still content. As Kitty stared at him she felt her eyes begin to tingle with tears so she quickly moved her gaze to the giant of a man standing behind the group, chuckling jollily. Piotr had ducked to get in the shot as his arms reached out drawing the group together.  
She was so absorbed in the picture she didn't hear Rogue approaching behind her.

##X##

"What's wrong with her Gumbo?" Logan growled as he and everyone else descended the stairs.

"Not'ing you can help wit," Remy returned.

"Obviously Rogue is very ill and this is not the right environment for her," the Professor said.

"What do you mean 'not the right environment'?" Pietro demanded.

"He means your way of life isn't helping her," Scott retorted.

"Think you can do better Summers?" Lance said, stepping forwards.

"Yeah I think I can," Scott stepped forwards so the two men were in each other's faces.

"No Scott," Jean said, laying her hand on Cyclops's arm.

"We don't want you here," Wanda explained. "You abandoned her. What makes you think she'll want you?"

"We didn't know we left her behind," Jean muttered.

"He knew," Remy accused flinging his arm out to point at the Professor. Everyone turned to look at Charles Xavier.

"I knew," the Professor admitted. "That Rogue was outside of the mansion when I woke up that morning. I thought nothing of it. She was an adult. What I didn't know was that she had not returned to the mansion in time. I believe that was your fault Mr LeBeau."

"Don't turn dis on me," Remy said, swelling up with anger. "You knew dat dere was a chance she was not dere. It should have been enough for you to try to make sure. But non, she could rot for all you care."

"Well it don't look like you've been taking good care of her," Jean said, bitchily.

"She gets everything she needs, everything she wants," Wanda said.

"You see, mate, we know a few people. In fact we're real chums with all the top government people," John said, grinning manically.

"Oui, I dink le petite homme knows dem best," Remy said indicating Logan. "Dey go by the name of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Liar," Logan growled, his claws bursting from his knuckles. "They wouldn't take on scum like you."

"We are not the scum here," Remy said, drawing out his cards. "We are not de ones who ran away."

Logan dived at the Cajun and all hell broke loose.

##X##

"What do ya want Kitty?"

Kitty jumped at Rogue's voice, shooting from her seat and nearly dropping the photograph as she hurriedly turned.

"I wanted to see if you were, like, Ok," she explained, her blue eyes searching her old friend's green.

Rogue sighed and sat down heavily on the bed, rubbing her eyes. Kitty sat hesitantly next to her looking at obviously sick woman beside her.

"I'm sorry Rogue. I really didn't know," the brunette said honestly.

Rogue looked up.

"Ah know," she whispered. "But there are so many things ya could have done to make yaself known. Ah would've come and got ya."

"What happened?" Kitty asked, changing the subject. "After the missiles hit. Were you there?"

"Yeah, Ah was there. Ah watched them both fly over my head," Rogue stared at nothing. "It was all gone, everything. Just rubble. No one could have survived it. Ah knew what Ah had to do. Ah went down to the lower levels, they had stayed intact, and started Deathcon 4. Then Ah got the hell outta there," she smiled ruefully. "But not before Ah got some files then me and Remy left in the X-jet." Kitty nodded. "We stopped by the Brotherhood mansion and the Acolyte base and went. They thought there might have been an attack on them too. We went to that cave, ya know the one. Then some people left. Sabertooth scarpered then Todd and the Freddy left. The rest stayed. Ah'll never forget that." Rogue's eyes shifted to the photo. "That's when S.H.E.I.L.D turned up."

"You work for them!" Kitty gasped.

"Yeah, the special mutant unit. We're a team," she laughed at Kitty's face and for a second looked like the Rogue she used to be. "How else would Ah be able to afford all this?" she gestured to their surroundings.

"Well I thought…" Kitty trailed off embarrassed.

"Ya thought we were criminals," Rogue said simply. "But we're not. We're as legal as they come." Again, her eyes strayed to the frame still held in Kitty's hand. Kitty followed her gaze.

"Well you look happy," the shorter girl said.

"Yeah, that was taken about three years ago," Rogue said wistfully. "Ya know for two years Ah hoped, maybe ya'll were alive, that we'd meet when Ah went on a mission or something. After all they found no trace. But then Ah realised that ya weren't comin back, so Ah let go. Ah had bought the site of the mansion, Ah even put up that memorial stone. Mah names on it too. A part of me died when Ah watched my home crumble with my brother, my best friend and nearly everyone Ah cared about crumble to the ground. All Ah had was Remy."

The two sat in silence for a minute before Kitty, feeling uncomfortable broke the ice.

"I see you can touch," she said, motioning at the second photo.

"Not for long and Ah have to concentrate really hard. Ah think the headaches are the side affects," she said as she gazed longingly at Remy's image. "But it's better than nothing."

Kitty took in her gaunt appearance.

"I'm happy for you," she said truthfully. She knew that the thing Rogue most wanted was the freedom of touch. That had not changed in five years. "So where's Piotr?" she asked.

"He's dead," Rogue said softly. Kitty stared at her, seeing sadness, loss and pain in the pale emerald eyes. There was something else there that Kitty couldn't quite pinpoint.

Crashes and explosions sounded down the corridor. Rogue dived from her seat and ran full pelt towards the noise. As Kitty stood she realised what she had seen in her eyes. Guilt.

##X##

Remy hurled Logan off of him, flipped up and pelted him with cards which Logan did his best to avoid. On the other side of the room Jean and the Prof were enveloped by a blue glow that Wanda held with ease. Kurt was trying desperately to bampf away from the flames that chased him, but John was not letting him escape. Scott was finding it hard to fight back against Lance without his visor and Pietro was literally running circles round Beast and Storm.

"Stop," a voice shouted. Immediately Rogue's team froze at her order. Remy held a blazing card in his hand ready to throw, the flames in the room disappeared. Lance pinned Scott to the floor but did nothing as Pietro drew to a halt. Jean and the prof were still in a blue shroud. The X-men had been defeated.

"What the hell is going on?" Rogue demanded, standing in the doorway with Kitty peeking over her shoulder.

"Dey started it," Remy said, glaring at Logan, who was gingerly getting up.

"Let them go," the southern belle commanded. Slowly her team did what she said, glaring at their opponents the whole time. As soon as she was free, Jean ran over to help Scott to his feet. The prof straightened his jacket.

"Thank you Rogue," he said. Rogue just glared at him. Kitty scampered over to join her teammates.

"Can't Ah leave ya alone for two minuets?" Rogue whispered to her boyfriend.

"No," Remy answered, smiling down at her. Rogue couldn't help but grin back.

"Don't worry, we creamed them," Pietro said smoothing back his hair.

"Exactly," Rogue said, looking over at the X-men who were limping around and nursing their wounds. "They can't fight their way out a paper bag an' Ah bet whatever they want it's gonna have something to do with putting a fist in someone's face." She looked up at Remy. "Ah can't let them go off and get themselves killed."

"Wait a second, sheila, are you sayin we're goin with 'em?" John protested.

"No, just giving them whatever info we can and sending them on their way," Rogue said firmly.

"Whatever you say chere," Remy said smiling.

The X-men tensed as they approached. The Professor remained seated watching her calmly.

"Relax," Rogue said simply. "We ain't goin tah hurt ya. Ah'm not goin to abandon my team to help ya," she said glaring at her old friends. "But Ah'm not goin to sit by an watch ya get yaselves killed, even though ya deserve it. We can help with the information ya need and in return," Remy squeezed her hand, showing his encouragement. "In return Ah never wanna see any of ya again. Do we have a deal?" she asked, extending her gloved hand towards the Professor. Kurt stared at his sister, hurt by her demand. Kitty became fascinated by her feet.

The Prof stared at the hand in front of him, then up into the eyes of his ex-student. He could feel her pain about what they had done to her but he also felt absolute sorrow at pushing them away. Suddenly he understood. The decisions of team leader weighed heavily on her mind, especially the bad ones. The image of Piotr flashed for a second then disappeared. Every decision had a cost. Xavier sighed and took the hand offered.

"Deal." 


	10. Chapter 9: How Long Is Forever?

Chapter 9: How Long Is Forever?

The Professor fished around in his briefcase before pulling out a picture. He slid it over the table towards Rogue, who picked it up.

"This is the man we are looking for," the Prof explained. "I have gathered information from various source and I believe this man is behind all the high profile riots between mutants and the normal public." Rogue laughed dryly. The Prof frowned at her. "I don't see what is funny. Do you know him?"

"Ah know him. His name is Michael Rhisdon," her fingers ran over the keyboard in front of her. A file appeared on the screen next to her, filled with information and a picture of the same man. "One of the main suppliers to the military. As ya can see, he has been involved in a number of dealings with S.H.I.E.L.D, but somehow he comes off clean. We were at some of the riots down south," her team nodded grimly. "They weren't a pretty sight. A different team investigated him again but they found nothing. He has some powerful friends." Again Rogue's hands flew over the keyboard. Another image popped up. "Lihke this guy. One of the main supporters for the Mutant Registration act."

"I thought that debate was dropped years ago?" Scott broke in.

"To the public, yeah. But it still goes on, when nobodies watchin'," Rogue replied. "Please don't tell me ya wanna go after this guy? He's way too powerful, he's untouchable."

"What choice do we have," the Professor said as he stood up, carefully reading the file. "Surly there is enough evidence here to put him away."

"Lots of it is circumstantial. The plans and files would be all over his computer but we can never get access. Ah wonder why?" she said rhetorically.

"Then that settles it. We have to go in."

"No way. Do ya think we haven't sent agents in? None of 'em ever come back," Rogue protested.

"Idiots!" Wanda exclaimed, backing up her friend. "The second you get in there, your history."

"By all accounts, we are dead and buried," the Prof said calmly, looking intently at Rogue. "We have the element of surprise." The two leaders stared at each other.

"Fihne," Rogue said staring defiantly into the eyes of her one time teacher. The printer exploded into life, printing out the file. The screen flashed to a blue print at the touch of a button. "This is a plan of the base. It's got every security feature goin'. Ah suggest a small team through the air ducts; they have the least amount of security. Someone should be covering all exits, maybe someone on the inside if ya have the time. But that's just what Ah think, decide for yaselves." And with that she stood and stalked off followed by her team, leaving the X-men to discuss their plans.

##X##

The X-men split as the Prof, Scott, Jean, Beast, Storm and Logan discussed their plans. Kitty rushed the way Lance had gone but Kurt needed to see someone else. His sister. She was sitting in the kitchen drinking a coke, looking as she used to. Amazingly in the short time that they had been here, colour had begun to return to her usually emerald eyes.

Rogue looked up at the sound of someone approaching and was met by the face of her brother. He looked down at her with his large eyes full of sadness that held her gaze so strongly.  
She pulled her eyes away.

"Don't look at me like that," she said so quietly, as if it were a whisper.

"You didn't mean dat deal did you?" He stated.

"Didn't Ah?" Rogue returned

"Rogue please," begged Kurt, taking a seat opposite. "Don't push me away. Ve are family. You said it yourself." "Family doesn't run out on each other," Rogue said back, avoiding her brother's eyes.

"I never wanted to leave you behind, I didn't even realise I had. If I had known, I would have come back for you," his blue fuzzy hand slid across the worktop and wrapped around Rogue's gloved one. She stared at it but didn't move her hand.

"Ah'd lihke to believe that ya would, but part of meh thinks it would have ended this way anyway. Maybe not so hurtful," she looked up at the X-men arguing over their plans. "Ah'm not lihke them, Ah never felt part of the team. Ya'll seemed so…untouchable. Ah don't wanna go back to a place where Ah didn't fit in. These are my friends now." She looked round to see her team talking quietly and shooting the X-men suspicious glances. Her eyes slipped back to her brother. Slowly she stood up and walked away.

"Vill they ever be your family?" A voice called after her.

Rogue paused and turned to face him.

"Part of it."

##X##

"Lance! Wait up," Kitty called after the walking earthquake.

"What do you want Kitty?" Lance demanded not slowing.

"To, like, talk to you. Stop," Lance continued. Kitty phased through him and planted herself between the corridor and him.

"I see you haven't lost your knack," Lance said, finally stopping.

"I'm sorry we left but I had no control over it," Kitty explained. "Do you think the last five years have been easy on me? I've thought about you."

"I thought about you too," Lance said looking down into her blue eyes, which brightened slightly at his words. "But there's a difference," his voice took on a new venom. "You knew I was still here, still alive. But no matter how much I hoped, how much I've wished, I thought you would never come back. I've moved on. Do the same!" He made to turn round and stalk down the corridor back to the living room but Kitty's hands held onto his shirtfront.

"Tell me one thing," she demanded. "Do you still love me?"

Lance stared at her for a moment totally speechless. Then his hands came up and gripped hers. Slowly he pushed them away and down to her sides, the same action he had done many years ago. He was just about to walk away when he stopped.

"Always," he whispered over his shoulder.

##X##

Rogue watched Lance walk into the room closely followed by Kitty. Her quick eyes noted the look of longing in Kitty's eyes as Lance walked towards Rogue. Kitty averted her gaze when she saw the power thief watching her.

"Lance," Rogue said quietly so the others wouldn't overhear. "The deal Ah made doesn't have to include ya. If ya want to be with Kitty, Ah'm not goin to stand in ya way."

Lance ran his eyes over his teammates.

"My place is here," he said simply. Rogue nodded.

The X-men finally quietened, signalling the end to their discussion. Rogue's team stopped playing pool as the X-men approached.

"We're going," the Prof said. "Thank you Rogue. I'm sorry about how this turned out. We will honour our bargain."

"Ah can't believe ya gonna do this," Rogue sighed.

"What choice do we have?"

Rogue looked up at Remy, who smiled ruefully.

"I knew dis was comin'. We don't need it as much as dem chere."

"Follow me," the southern belle ordered.

She crossed the room and stopped by a keypad system. She typed in a series of numbers and the door slid open to reveal a staircase spiralling up. They all clattered up the stairs after her, not knowing where the hell they were going.

"Et voila," Rogue said from the gloom. The lights flicked on, flooding light into the hanger. In the centre was the Blackbird, as new looking as ever. "Ah had time to rescue it before we left." She chucked a pair of keys to Logan who caught them. "And its yours. We hardly use it anyways. Ah fitted it with every bit of equipment goin', fixed her up a bit and now she runs lihke a dream. Spare suits are in the cargo compartment but Ah think ya'll gonna need bigger sizes," she said looking Jean up and down.

"You kept everything all these years?" Logan growled.

"Yeah," Rogue said sadly. "It made me feel, close to ya'll."

"Now go you've outstayed your welcome," Pietro said quickly.

The X-men got everything they needed and were preparing to leave.

"Professor, here," Rogue called. She gave him a brown folder.

"The plans to Cerebro," the Prof muttered.

"Ah thought ya could find the others, Ah'm sure Bobby, Amara, Sam an' all them would wanna know what happened."

"Yes I'm sure they would," the Prof said sadly as he climbed onto the X-jet.

Rogue turned and nearly walked into Logan who was standing behind her. He handed her a small piece of paper.

"How long is forever, Stripes?" he whispered.

Rogue stared after him as he boarded the Blackbird. It wasn't until the back thrusters of the jet were out of sight that Rogue looked at the slip. It was a photograph of the old X-men taken over five years ago, looking as happy as they always did. The photo was creased and seemed oddly smeared by water but it was the one she had left at the mansion that day. The writing on the back had run too but it still read 'Forever X'. 


	11. Chapter 10: In His Arms

Chapter 10: In His Arms

Rouge stared at the screen in front of her as her fingers ran over the keyboard. She didn't look up as Remy slid into the seat next to her.

"Cherie, what are yo' doing?" he asked her.

"Ah noticed that part of the file is encrypted and Ah wanna see what it says." She said not taking her eyes from the screen.

"And yo' would rather be doing dis than spending some time wid your favourite Cajun?" he asked slyly. This caught Rogue's attention. Slowly she turned to her boyfriend who leant in to meet her lips. Their kiss started off gentle and tender but as it went on increased in passion and urgency. Remy caressed the small of her back as Rogue tangled her fingers in his hair. Suddenly Rogue broke off pushing Remy away and clutching her head as silent tears ran down her face. Remy raced to the kitchen and returned with a pill and a glass of water which Rogue promptly drank. Almost immediately she calmed and her tears stopped.

"It's getting worse," she whispered into Remy's shirt as he held her close. "Ah don't know how long Ah can stand this."

"Don't talk like dat chere," Remy said pulling her even closer. "I am not'ing wid out you."

Rogue looked up into his red on black eyes and saw in them the love and the passion that mirrored her own. The computer beeped, ruining their moment. Rouge drew back from Remy to stare again at the computer. She felt unbearable sadness as Gambit withdrew into their bedroom, leaving her to her work.

##X  
The X-men sat in silence aboard the X-jet as it streamed away from New Orleans.

"Professor," Kurt said. "You did not mean what you said back there. Rogue is part of the team and nothing can change that."

"We have to respect her wishes," The prof said sadly.

"So what's the plan Charles?" Storm asked.

"Rogue's plan of the air ducts does sound advisable," the prof said looking down at the blue prints in his hands. "But it may be risky, perhaps a trap of some sort." He studied the paper closely for a second. "Ah, here we are. There is a small side entrance on the west side of the complex. After that we need to get down two more corridors before we reach the computer room."

"What kind of security do they have?" Scot questioned, standing up to look over his mentor's shoulder.

"Cameras, alarms, access codes not to mention guards," Logan pitched in.

"We can handle it," the Professor said confidently.

"Are you sure we can?" Jean posed. "We've been out of the game for a long time, we aren't as sharp as we used to be. You saw what happened back at Rogue's."

"Forget Rogue," Xavier ordered harshly. "This is what WE have to do. This man is a danger to mutant and human kind alike. His business empire is vast; he has connections everywhere, connections that make him untouchable to anyone who has to work inside the law. He has wriggled free of every lawsuit he has ever faced. Rogue has made it clear she can't help us; humans will not help us so it is down to us. We need the information he has stored on his computer and in that building to bring him down. So we are going in. End of discussion."

The occupants of the jet stared at him and even Logan looked slightly surprised. Slowly Charles turned to face the front as silence descended on them once more.

##X##

Remy stepped out of the bedroom he shared with Rogue and headed towards the kitchen. He glanced at where Rogue sat, slumped in her seat, her head resting on the desk as she slept by a small pile of paper, a pen still in her hand. He had lost count of the times he had found her in this position. He gazed down at her peaceful face, free from worry or pain and felt an over whelming rush of love for the girl he hoped to make his wife. Eyes still locked onto her angelic face he took a small black box from his pocket. Carefully he opened it to reveal a gold ring, incrusted with a sparking emerald circled by diamonds.

"My chere," he whispered to her sleeping form. "My everyt'ing. Would you accept dis ring or would yo' push it away to try and protect me. Remy doesn't need protecting cherie, only yo' do." The Cajun reached out and tentatively pushed a lock of white hair behind her ear. She began to stir at his touch. Remy quickly snapped shut the box and stashed it in his pocket. Carefully he wrapped his arms round her form and easily picked her up.

"Remy," she sighed, snuggling closer and breathing in his strong, comforting scent. And Remy went to bed, his sleeping love in his arms.

(Sorry this update took forever but they will be coming quicker now. Please review and as the reader your opinion is important to me. If you have any ideas for the characters worst fears plz tell me J) 


	12. Chapter 11: Infiltrated

Chapter 11: Infiltrated.  
Kitty phased her head through the heavy metal door and peered round. No one was around. She withdrew to the outside where the rest of the team in their old suits were waiting.

"Coast is clear," she said. The Professor nodded to Logan whose claws snapped out of his knuckles. Carefully he dug them into the metal, creating a doorway. Scott helped him to dump the sheet by the bottom of the stairs.

"Beast we are going in now," The Prof said into his radio. From the X-jet Beast replied.

"The guards are changing round now and the cameras are down. You have five minutes to get in, I can do nothing on the infer red and we can't have any more radio contact. Good luck, guys."

The Prof stashed the radio in his trouser pocket and nodded to his team. Scott placed a small casket just inside the door where it immediately illuminated the infer-red lasers criss-crossing the floor. Each member stepped in carefully through the make shift doorway and into the long corridor watching where they trod. Their progress was slow, taking all their skill to avoid the lasers that would trigger the alarm system. Finally they reached the turning in the corridor and peered carefully round the corner. Suddenly the lasers in front and behind shut off leaving their way clear to the hanger containing the main computer. The team looked back at their mentor who shrugged obviously confused as well. He hesitated before waving Scott on. Jean mentally short fused the cameras and the team set off at a run towards the controlled doors. Kitty pushed her way forwards and placed a small hand held computer into the access code and immediately began tapping away.

"Hurry up Kitty," Nightcrawler whispered agitated. Kitty ignored him and continued tapping away. The door slid open and an over excited Nightcrawler bounder through.

"No," Kitty cried but it was too late. Several alarms went squealing off.

"What happened?" Scott demanded.

"He didn't give me a chance to shut the temperature, weight and lasers off," Kitty said quickly.

"We are not leaving without the information," the Professor shouted over the din ushering his X-men inside. The door snapped shut behind them as soldiers piled into the surrounding corridors. The Prof bounded up the stairs to the main computer as the others tried to cover the many doors that had to be closed manually. From each came a barrage of gunfire as the soldiers tried to force their way in. Jean sent one squad flying backwards who immediately recovered a sent the message that the infiltrators were in fact mutants. The Special Mutant Unit was dispatched. The SMU were Rhisdon's 'army' made up of convicted criminals who were absolutely ruthless in their treatment of mutants.

Michael rose calmly from his bed at the sound of his alarms and dressed. He met his bodyguards and the SMU and escorted them to the private hidden door into the main hanger where the X-men stood desperately hacking away into his computer system.

A panel suddenly exploded from the corner and masked men carrying guns burst into the room.

"Try to leave one of 'em boys. How 'bout the red head?" one man shouted. "Open the doors. Stop the old man."

Gunfire erupted from the machine guns they carried. Logan charged forwards slicing one in half and planting his foot into another's face. Kitty phased through the bullets fired her way and Kurt dodged in a cloud of blue smoke. Storm, unable to produce lightning in a metal room, resorted to hand to hand while Jean smacked those who came her way into the wall.

"Professor!" Scott shouted as more SMU filed into the room. "We can't hold on much longer!"

"Just a little longer," the Prof muttered.

Logan felt an explosion of pain in his shoulder but ignored it as he disarmed the man. Unable to take defeat the masked man dived at him, punching him in his new wound. Logan roared with pain as the two went down the SMU on top closing his hands round the Wolverine's neck. Logan struggled but couldn't find a way to dislodge him. Suddenly an explosion ripped through the hanger, followed by a gunshot. The man's eyes bulged as he fell dead. Logan pushed him off and turned to face his saviour.

SOO sorry will be quicker cahppies will be longer. Can you guess whp it is yet 


	13. Chapter 12: Warrior Goddess

Chapter 12: Warrior Goddess

A figure stepped forwards; smoke billowing around it light shining from behind. The figure was that of a woman, a goddess, tall and strong. Her feet were clad in hard, well-worn boots, her long shapely legs encased in shining black leather. Panther black covered her torso and arms, clinging to her form. Draped over her shoulders was a deep brown trench coat. Around her slim waist was a belt with two gun sheaths hanging from it. One gun was poised in the goddess' slim hand, its pale skin making a startling contrast to the black of the leather. An unseen breeze shifted her two toned hair.

"Forever is a long, long time," she whispered but Logan's ears heard her voice.

Suddenly his awareness of his surroundings exploded back into his consciousness. Hurriedly he climbed to his feet expecting a hand from Rogue but she offered none. Rogue's gang had joined the fray aiding the waning X-men in their struggle. At last the tide was beginning to turn. Rogue fired round after round, taking out the rapists and murders who fired on her old teammates. Eventually her ammunition run out and she produced daggers from somewhere on her person.

"Shut those doors!" she commanded. Inside her head, the psychic of Hawkeye a mutant from Latvia with perfect aim clicked into place. In a split second her eyes narrowed as she focused on the main control panel. Suddenly she threw the dagger in her hand, sending it straight and true into the main control more than twenty metres away. Immediately what doors that were open slammed shut, halting the streams of the SMU. She delivered a swift punch to the man nearest her and he went down. Logan was gone from her side but in his place stood the one thing she cared for above all else. Remy LeBeau released card after burning card at the attackers but they just kept coming. Out of the corner of her eye Rogue saw Scott go down, struck by a knockout dart.

"Their orders have changed," Rogue shouted to her lover as her blade slipped through another mans ribs. "They want us alive! We have to retreat." She slammed her elbow into a guys face and kicked another in the face.

Remy nodded and began yelling the retreat over the din. Immediately the X-men began to cut a path to the entrance to the air ducts, supporting each other as they ran. Only one figure did not move.

"Professor!" Rogue yelled, struggling to support a senseless Jean and fight. The bald man ignored her and continued to type away. Logan chucked Scott into the hole unceremoniously before climbing up himself. Wanda tried to maintain a shield around the retreating teams.

"Rogue," Pietro whispered as his leader passed the red head up. "We can't leave with them. They're gonna slow us down."

Rogue continued. "What would you have me do? Leave them?" she hissed. "I've made that mistake before," she turned to go retrieve the Prof but Pietro gripped her arm.

"Do you think by saving them you can bring Piotr back? You are insane," he instantly regretted the last comment as he say her green eyes harden. She shrugged off his grasp and ran into the fray, reloading her last cartridge.

The SMU couldn't fire at the woman sprinting through their midst for fear of hitting one of their own. On the stairs the soldiers fired at the old man on the computer but none of the shots hit the target. Rogue attacked from behind sending them clattering down the harsh metal stairs. As soon as she reached the top, the SMU below opened fire but were distracted by a flurry of explosions. Rogue seized her chance and the Professor. He tried to resist being dragged down the stairs after her but his efforts were futile. Eventually she ran out of billets and had to resort to hand to hand. Even as she fought she felt a wave of tiredness in her limbs. The Prof was being thoroughly useless for the most powerful telepath in the world. Through the mass she saw Gambit trying to shove his way to her.

"Go," she shouted. She saw his face-harden, desperately she said the one thing he would listen to. "That's an order." For a second Remy stopped and stared as she slashed a man in the face.From her sleeve she produced a small item that looked like a pen. In one easy movement she threw it into Remy's hand. Behind her she felt the prof sag. Eventually the Cajun turned and swung expertly up into the duct. Rogue couldn't help but smile as the warrior goddess was buried under a pile of men. 

A/N I know I'm rubbish at updating and i'm really sorry. Just keep going with this story its just getting good. Thanx for everyones reviews. 


	14. Chapter 13: Revelations

Chapter 13: Revelations 

Rhisdon adjusted his suit jacket as he stepped into his main control room. The doors had been prised open to show a scene of utter chaos. Bodies littered the floor, mostly injured but some were dead. The only prisoners were a bald man who lay senseless on the floor and a woman with two-toned hair refusing to co-operate with her guards. When he saw the faces of the infiltrators on the screen he thought he had gone mad but no here they were, flesh and blood. The woman, Rogue his files said, looked as though she had taken quite a beating. Blood was running down her face from a cut on her scalp, her cheek was badly bruised and she couldn't kneel straight suggesting some broken ribs.

"My, my, my quite the battle," he sneered. "And by the X-men no less."

Rogue ceased her struggles to glare at him. "Old habits die hard," she muttered.

"Evidently." He answered an evil glint in his eye. "Well it seems whatever you have tried to achieve has failed."

Rogue laughed dryly.

"We may still be here but there are others who got out. And believe me when they get that information to S.H.I.E.L.D your going to be in big trouble."

Rhisdon shook his head as he crouched down in front of her.

"What makes you think they got away," he whispered. On cue SMU soldiers clattered in to the room with the X-men and the rest of her team in tow. Most were unconscious, heads lolling as they were dragged but a few were conscious. One such person was Remy LeBeau his eyes brimming with concern as they locked onto hers. Anger took over Rogue's body. Her feet shot out, sweeping one guard off his feet as her head shot up, slamming into the man attempting to tie her hands. As the first SMU hit the floor she seized his handgun from the holster. She delivered an elbow to another before smoothly taking aim at Rhisdon. Immediately every gun in the room was trained onto her but she didn't even blink. Then Rhisdon did something completely unexpected. He laughed.

"Well done," he managed in his mirth. "Very impressive but what good do you think that will do. The second you pull that trigger a thousand bullets will fill your body and what good will that do to your friends." He stepped closer. Rogue's eyes didn't move from him. "Who has more to lose?" He watched her eyes flick to her friend and back. Slowly he reached out and grasped the gun, feeling her relinquish her grip. With lightning speed her fist shot out and jabbed him on the nose. The SMU pounced beating her into submission with the butts of their guns. The prisoners still conscious shouted and pulled against the chains that connected them to the wall. The Rogue was dragged to stand beside them as Rhisdon skipped merrily up the stairs to the balcony where he stood over them. At a flick of his hand the SMUs left the room sealing the doors behind them. Rhisdon set the gun down on the cabinet beside him before addressing them.

"Welcome X-men. I must admit I didn't think I would ever see you again. Obviously those missiles were far too expensive."

Logan gave a roar as he strained against his chains.

"It was you!" he howled.

Rhisdon spread his hands wide and gave a bow.

"My greatest achievement to date," Remy had heard enough and began to charge his restraints. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Rhisdon advised. "Sets off a reaction that explodes each manacle if one is broken. Wouldn't want your friends hands to go boom would you?"

Remy glared at him but he did withdraw his power

"Yes I did destroy that mutant den just didn't have the effect I planned," Rhisdon continued as he riffled through the filing cabernet. "It was meant to kick start this war between humans and mutant. But no. Mutants decided to keep quiet. A few protests here, a few there but nothing major. And to cap it off no files on the infamous 'Cerebro'. Now that would have made my fortune. I suppose this is your entire fault." A few people down, Pietro was beginning to stir. "Ahh here we are," cooed Rhisdon triumphantly holding a pack of files aloft. "You will pay for your meddlesome ways."

"Why do you hate your own kind?" A voice called. Rogue's.

"What?" Rhisdon questioned.

"Mutants. You are a mutant after all. And soon all the world will know that little fact."

"Pray tell."

Rogue waved the hand she hit him with. On her middle finger sat a large shiny ring, which tapered into a point.

"This ring has just obtained your blood sample and sent a signal to S.H.I.E.L.D with your DNA in tow. Should raise a few questions why you are so pro-mutant wipe out."

Rhisdon glared down at her.

"It makes no difference," he stated plodding down the stairs, the spring in his step gone. "So are you ready?"

"For what?" Logan growled.

"For your worst nightmares." 


	15. Chapter 14: Nightmares

I know I'm real lousy at updating but I have been experienceing some problems with this fic. Hope you enjoy this chappie.

Chapter 14 Nightmares: The Death of a Dream and the Birth of an Animal

Rhisdon trotted down the stair absently flicking through the files in his hands.

"That's the handy thing about these files, they give me a real insight to what makes you tick. What makes you strong and what makes you weak."

"Why don't ya just shoot us?" Rogue said dryly. "Or do ya plan on boring us to death."

Rhisdon's face turned a shocking shade of red.

"Because you deserve all that you are going to get. You are supposed to be dead and buried. Forgotten. You will not interfere again. Any of you. I simply need to suggest to you the thing you dread the most and your mind runs away with itself. Such is the wonder of the human brain and the emotion that make us human."

He marched over to the unconscious Professor and seized his shoulder.

"The most important thing to you," he whispered. "Is your dream."

XXXXXXXXX

The Professor woke with a start. Groggily he surveyed his surroundings. He was sitting in a room that looked vaguely familiar. Something pulled on his memory; something important but he couldn't quiet remember. Unconsciously he tried to stand but found his legs would not respond. He glanced down to find himself in his wheelchair. He chuckled, stupid to think that he could stand.

Suddenly sound hit his ears, crashes, shouts and screams. He wheeled himself into the halls of the Xavier Institute, pushing his chair at full speed toward the entrance hall where the sounds that chilled his blood were emanating from.

He emerged into a war zone. He could feel the heat of the flames that ravaged the stair case metres away. Rubble and broken glass littered the floor. Humans armed with guns ran to and fro and Xavier could hear gunfire in the distance.

"No," the Professor whispered hoarsely. "My dream."

Suddenly a thought exploded into his head.

"My X-men!" he cried. He cast his mind out but found his powers beyond his reach. "No, not now. Not now"  
Frantically he pushed his chair forwards desperate to find his X-men. A sob rose in his throat as he saw the human shape lying on the floor.

"Scott?"

Scott Summers lay on the floor, his body bloody and broken. His deep brown eyes, so long eclipsed by his powers, stared at the ceiling, drained of all life. The first amongst the X-men had been the first to fall.

A few yards away a red haired figure lay having been shot as she crawled to her love. Jean's face was beautiful even in death.

The first of the lovers were dead.

The ground began to shake, threatening to tip the professor from his chair. The prof whirled his chair round, tears falling from his chin staining his jacket. Shouts and gunfire sounded from the gardens.

Xavier followed the sound. As he wheeled down the path dead faces stared up at him both students and soldiers alike. Bobby, Amara, Tabitha, their young lives stolen from them.

The ground continued to shake and at last Xavier found the source. Lance knelt on the floor the body of a tiny brunette in his arms. Soldiers surrounded him but he didn't seem to care, just kept crying blood-cuddling screams of pain and loss. The soldiers fired and all was still.

The second of the lovers had been destroyed.

Tears ran freely down the Professor's face. In the distance he heard a roar as guns and the unmistakable sound of metal slicing metal. Above him the lightning that split the sky abruptly stopped but the rain still fell.

An explosion sounded through the darkness. The Prof's head snapped up, someone was still fighting. He accelerated his wheelchair frustrated by its slowness. The floor was littered with logs and bits of tree trunk as the figures came into view.

Remy LeBeau and Rogue fought hand to hand with those around them. But no matter how many they fought, every adversary that fell was replaced by another. Charles Xavier reached deep inside himself searching for his powers. The chair tumbled over a fallen log, sending him sprawling onto the muddy ground. He raised his head in time to see the soldiers swarm down on the two mutants. Xavier watched helplessly as Remy and Rogue tried to link hands but the crowd ripped them from each other's grip.

The third of the lovers are broken.

Xavier buried his face in the mud as he wept for the broken remains of his students and his dream.

XXXXXXXXX

"The Wolverine," Rhisdon sneered. "Perfect name for the perfect animal." Logan snarled and struggled but Rhisdon laid a hand on his shoulder.

XXXXXXXXX

He slowly opened his eyes. Around him men and women in white coats in front of computers. He was in some sort of tank, full of green liquid. Confusion entered his groggy mind. He had no idea where he was, he had no idea why he was there, he couldn't even remember his own name. The scientists ignored him. Angered he beat his fists against the glass, harder and harder and harder. Suddenly knives shot from his knuckles slicing through the glass like butter. With a roar he burst from his prison. Alarms immediately sounded as the people in white coats fled.

"What did you do to me?" he cried after them.

He buried his claws into the nearest computer. Still screaming with rage he set about destroying the lab. Finally rage seeped from his limbs. He gazed round at the destruction he had caused and then down at his hands and did as any animal would have done. Following his instincts he ran. Out of the building into a wood of snow covered trees.  
Eventually he stopped and collapsed on the ground. He stared at his blood stained hands as he rocked back and forth in the snow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Right there you go.What do you think. The next few chapters run the same as this so review with your opinions and i will make any changes if needed to the next chapter and update quick.

nightdwellerooxxxxx 


	16. Chapter 15: Nightmares Part II

Chapter 15 : Nightmares Part II: Alone, A Fathers Love and Trapped

"Ah Mr Summers," Micheal said. Scott turned his face to look in his direction but he did not dare open his eyes for fear of hurting one of his friends. "A tragic story by all accounts. Abandoned by your parents, such awful deaths. Unwanted at a children's home. It says here you had a relationship with Miss Grey. So that's your rock on her finger?" A look of pain flickered over Scott's face and Rhisdon picked up on it. "I thought not. So tell me Scott what is it like to be alone?" Rhisdon rested a hand on his shoulder.

XXXXXXXX

Scott stood at the back of the church in the shadows unseen by the congregation. His masked eyes never left the red haired bride marrying a man whose face he couldn't quiet see. Slowly he turned and walked away unable to bear seeing the love of his life pledge herself to another man.

He walked down a crowded street but found himself untouched by the hoards of people going the opposite way. At last he stopped across the street from a children's home. Here was where he spent his childhood watching the other kids come and go but always being left behind. Alone. And the people walked straight through him.

XXXXXXXX

Rhisdon watched Scott sag where he was chained with a sick grin on his face. He seized two files from the pile and absently flicked through them, skimming their contents.

"Maximoff twins!" he whispered glancing at Pietro struggling to reach his unconscious sister. "What a delightful surprise. Twins! Two for the price of one!" He clamped his hands onto their shoulders.

XXXXXXXXX

Pietro felt the rain on his face. Slowly he opened his eyes to the sight before him. He stood on a street side facing a dismal, grey building that pulled on his memory. Suddenly a scream reached his ears. A figure in a red coat was being dragged up the stairs away from him.

How she had got here, she didn't know but she definitely wanted to get away. The feeling inside her were the same as they were all those years before as the clinic attendants held her struggling arms. Through the chaos she saw faces she knew.

"Wanda!"

Pietro made to dive forwards, to rip the men's hands from his sister, to seize her himself and whisk her away in the blink of an eye. But he didn't move, someone had stopped him. He turned to look into a pair of eyes so much like his own.

Her father and Pietro stood metres away as they had that night. 'Run to me' she begged her brother silently.

"Let me go," Pietro growled.

His father stared at him.

"You don't need her, my son. She will only hold you back. She is weak but you, you can be great."

"No," Pietro wailed and tried to run again to no avail. "You can't take her!" he screamed. "I need her!"

"Pietro!" she cried tears beginning to run. She couldn't see him. "Don't let them take me! Don't leave me."

"He doesn't want you," a man whispered.

"You lie," she hissed.

"See for yourself."

Arms parted as if by magic and there he stood, staring right at her. And before her his face morphed into the smirk she had seen so many times. The smirk that also graced her fathers. Rage boiled within her, bubbling into her throat.

"I hate you! You hear me Pietro! I hate you!"

Pietro struggled; he pushed against the invisible barrier that stopped him when her words of loathing reached him.

"You see, she does not need you. She does not love you."

Pietro, exhausted sank to his knees on the flooded pavement, his salt tears joining the water surrounding him.

XXXXXXXX

Rhisdon continued down the line stopping beside a woman with hair as white as snow. Dazed she gazed up at her captor with confused eyes.

"Almost too easy," he breathed brushing her shoulder.

XXXXXXXX

Storm awoke to silence. Nothing stirred as she blinked her eyes clear. She began to stand feeling against the wall until she stood upright in the brilliant white light that engulfed her. Hesitantly she reached out her other hand and felt the opposite wall under her fingertips. Panic rose. With a scream of terror she rammed her fist into the wall again and again. Wordless cries came from her throat as she felt the walls begin to close around her, enclosing her. She felt her lungs contract and her breath became laboured. Finally she curled into a ball, rocking back and forth as she shivered.

XXXXXXXX I'm havin a little trouble with Kitty's worst nightmare so if you have any ideas, don't hesitate, review. 


	17. Chapter 16: Nightmares Part III

Chapter 16: Nightmares Part III: Useless, Never Human and Full Circle

Michael glared down at the unconscious telepath, her red hair sprawled on the ground around her. He picked up a strand between his thumb and forefinger, the others tensed against their chains. Inside Rhisdon almost giggled.

"Do you think it's natural?" he joked. Rogue snorted.

"If you only knew what goes on in that head," she said under her breath.

Rhisdon failed to hear her as he placed his hand on the redhead's shoulder.

XXXXXXXX

Jean felt the wind in her hair as she stepped out onto the street. People and cars rushed around her busily going about their lives in New York City. She wandered down the sunlit pavement calmly almost lazily. Over the hub of the city she heard someone call her name. Slowly she turned, her face lighting up as she saw who it was. Scott Summers was walking on the other side of the road, the sun glinting off his glasses. He raised his hand in greeting, grinning the smile that made her knees weak. He stepped into the road, careful as always and began to cross.

Suddenly a car tore round the corner, the sun bouncing off its body. She had no time to react, no time to scream a warning as the heavy car slammed into the man she had known for half her life and always had loved. He was thrown clear onto the unforgiving road. Jean felt her legs carry her towards his broken body. Blood ran down his face and there was a massive wound in his side.

She grappled for her power, seizing its strands. She felt items around her lift into the air, stones and pebbles flying round her head. But nothing came. She couldn't do it. She could not stem the life's flow that seeped onto the pavement; she could not support his internal injuries or help keep his mind. All she could feel was his pain, digging into her, tearing her apart; she could hear a scream, long and loud. It took a second to realise that it was her voice. How could he stand this pain? She was there within his mind, trapped by him, surrounded by his torment as his life slowly drained, feeling every bit ebbing away. The pebbles around her flew faster but that was it. She could give nothing else.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rhisdon glared at the blue, furry being in front of him.

"How could anyone consider this human?" he asked voice dripping with distain.

"He is more human than you will ever be," Rogue snarled.

"Well you would say that, being family and all," Rhisdon said not switching his attention. "I suppose you all are. I wonder how he'd feel if you turned against him."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kurt blew bubbles into his drink as he sat on a bench alone, enjoying the sun. The students of Bayville High flittered around him, trays stacked high with food. His stomach growled, demanding to be fed despite the two burgers, two fries and hot dog he had already engulfed. Scott plonked himself next to him, throwing his tray onto the table and glaring off at something.

"Careful with the food brother," Kurt protested, hurriedly trying to stop any more fries rolling off the table. Scott didn't answer, just tore a bite from his burger. Kurt followed the direction of his gaze to where Jean sat eating with Duncan.

"It's not fair," Scott growled. "I could take him any day but I can't."

"Oh I know Scott."

"What does she even see in him," Scott continued as though he never heard. "Oh I know, normality."

"You are normal Scott," Kurt said reassuringly. "We both are."

Scott slowly turned to him, his lip curled into a sneer or amusement.

"You think you're normal," he spat. "Are you blind as well as stupid? You're not even human."

"What?" Asked Kurt, confused by his friends behaviour.

"You are never human," Scott continued. "You hide behind this illusion and you think it makes you the same as us." Lightning fast, Scott seized Kurt's wrist, breaking the watch wrapped there. The illusion of Kurt's human appearance flickered once before disappearing. Kurt gave a cry and toppled over the back of his chair as Scott grinned wickedly in his triumph. All movement seemed to stop.

Kurt looked up slowly. Everyone had stopped in their individual pursuits, locked solid as they stared at the blue, fuzzy figure kneeling on the floor. They stared at him in horror, eyes wide and faces drained of all colour. Cautiously Kurt picked himself up from the concrete, conscious of their unforgiving gazes. His eyes swept around searching for someone to help him. Over with Duncan Jean had stopped flirting and was now sneering at him, half giggling at his misfortune. Kitty had dropped her plate at the sight of him, but instead of rushing forward she turned and walked away. At last his yellow orbs fell on Rogue, his sister. She refused to look at him, instead concentrating on her food as though she had no care in the world, as if he didn't even exist. Tears began to form as he turned to Scott.

"Why?" he whispered.

Scott leaned closer.

"Because no matter how you try, you are not like us. You will never be human."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rhisdon crossed to where Lance stood, back straight and proud.

"And here we have the juvenile delinquent," he sneered, flicking absently through the file he held. "I'm surprised you came within arms length of such an important mission as this. Look at this, you've been in trouble with the police more times than I've killed."

"That's my past," Lance answered monotonously, refusing to look at his tormentor.

"No, no its not," Rhisdon hissed back. "This is your life, you are doomed to repeat this again and again and again. You can't escape it, it's the way you are." With that Rhisdon seized his shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Around him were grey stonewalls; stretching so high above him they must have touched heaven. But it was so dark back on Earth, overcast by their shadows. Lance gazed around him and the never-ending corridor he seemed to be in. Calmly he assessed where he was and what he should do to get out of the situation, the direction he should take, and after all he had all the time in the world to regroup with the team. Coolly Lance began to walk to his left, his pace steady and confident. Suddenly sound exploded somewhere behind him, noises of sirens, dogs and men, a familiar sound. All reason and sense drained from Lance in a second, the layers he had built over his troubled past, that had made him the man he was abandoned him, leaving behind the old need to run, to put as much distance between himself and the faceless people he knew pursued him.  
Lance ran, along the wall as fast as he possibly could. A turning came and he took it panic ruling his every move. He remembered when he done this every evening in the light of the setting sun, the police hard on his tail, just waiting for him to slip up. And of course he had, they had caught him, they always did. He tuned left, then right, right again not caring where his paths led as long as it led away from the law he had been running from his entire life. He could not go back to that life, he would not go back.

"This way!" A voice cried, so close, gaining on him only a few turns behind. They were coming, coming for him. As he sprinted away, he dared to look behind, his sight met by the glow of a flashlight and his ears met by the cry that they had him.

Panic blinded him and he darted down a turning, sprinting and sprinting until he came to the wall, the wall that blocked his path, blocked his escape, blocked his freedom. Hurriedly he looked around, searching for an opening but none came. Tears formed in his eyes as he pounded the wall desperately, not angry but scared as more flashlights appeared on the horizon, his only exit. Finally tears overflowed, pouring down his cheeks. He was trapped.

----------------------------------

OMG i havent updated in soo long. I really do apologise especially loyal reviewers for my poor conduct with update. I hope to get the story finished very soon so the end is in sight. I have GCSEs coming up at the mo but i will update another chapter very, very fast.  
Thankyou and please review. Thoses Kitty ideas are really helping. 


	18. Chapter 17: Nightmares Part IV

Chapter 17: Nightmares Part IV; Falling, Overcome, A Promise and Finish

Rhisdon sauntered away from his latest victim, not even glancing as the brown haired mutant fell to his knees, tears pouring from his closed eyes as he desperately tried to make himself into a tight ball. Rogue stared at her teammate, ignoring the smart tap of Rhisdon's shoes across the highly polished floor, finding it hard to believe that the rock of the group was crying uncontrollably. Desperately she glanced around trying to work out a way to be free from her restraints and pound this hypocrite's face into the wall. She didn't even register who Rhisdon was approaching, flexing his hand so that his long fingers clicked eerily, a strangely poignant sound amongst the cries of her friends and his Italian shoes. But when she did see his intended prey she lost all the countenance that she had previously contained.

"I swear to God if you touch her your life wont be worth living!" she shouted, for the first time since their capture, her iciness gone, for Rhisdon's hand hovered over the shoulder of Kitty Pryde, her best friend even after all these years. Her cries were enough to stop her foe, making his cold eyes snap to her, a look of surprise appearing so out of place on his harsh features.

Why shouldn't he be surprised at her outburst? As a child he had been lonely, friendless with no siblings. He did not understand the importance of the unconscious girl at his feet, long brown hair flowing like melted chocolate over the shiny floor. She was younger, a child to the X Men despite how much she had grown. She was to be protected, looked after and no one took that more seriously than Rogue herself. They endured her scattiness, laughed at her antics and loved her for her laughter The girl lying there was a confidant, a friend, and perhaps even Rogue's first ever true friend.

"What do you seriously think you can do?" her tormenter sneered but could not keep the intrigue out of his voice. Why had she responded to this particular member of her beloved fighting force?

"You know," she replied, testing the length of the chains holding her back and was pleased to see Rhisdon flinch when she surged forward. He feared her, even though she was chained to a wall. And, as he was proving, fear could be a formidable weapon. He tried to cover up his mistake with an indulgent smile, as though she were a child, as he laid his hand slowly but purposefully onto the girl's shoulder, his eyes never once leaving her emerald ones.

Kitty woke with a start, feeling her face pressed to a cold floor. Slowly she sat up, slowly so that she could check herself for injuries but she found none, except for a slight stiffness from lying on a stone floor for what must have been hours. Rubbing her head as though still in a daze she took in her surroundings, noting the darkness that made her shudder. She never really liked the dark, not since that Egyptian Temple all those years ago. With a little more speed she climbed to her feet and staggered a few steps as her legs grew used to movement, hands outstretched so she wouldn't bump into anything face first. Within a few seconds her right hand found a cold, metal surface, a tube she realised as she wrapped her hand around it. Her left fumbled until she found its twin. Bars, she realised, I am in a cage of metal bars. She grinned into the darkness, confident that she was on the verge of escape. Idiots, she thought smugly, do they not know who I am? Taking another step she phased though the bars that blocked her way.

But when her foot reached the other side, they did not meet the solid ground she was expecting but instead went straight through with such velocity that she had no time to scream. Down she fell, her tumble relentless and unstoppable through the earth. Centuries of rock and dirt passed her by as she desperately scrabbled for something to cling to, panic and fear tearing at her insides. Finally she realised it was impossible she could not stop and she could not scream, for who would hear her down here?

"Bastard," Rogue hissed like a cat as Kitty's mouth opened in a soundless scream that she could feel tearing at her soul. But for the moment at least she was powerless to stop her friend's pain. Even Remy looked stricken from what she could see of him. But Rhisdon no longer cared for them, his gaze fixed on the man with the flaming hair whose fear was as clear as his blue eyes.

Without his lighters John felt naked and vulnerable, his powers beyond his reach. He was at the mercy of the man treading his way over to him, having dealt with nearly everyone else. His crystal eyes focused on his leader, a woman he respected and trusted, and silently prayed that she would save him with some clever trick like she had done so many times before. But it was not to be. He could see it in her shining emeralds that she was as powerless as him but he did see something as Rhisdon touched his shoulder. In that split second he saw beyond her pain, beyond her anger and saw hope. He would always trust in hope.

Feverishly his head broke the surface, salt water stinging his eyes as the frenzied waves battered him from side to side leaving him bruised and winded. Air had never tasted so sweet as he gulped it in, thunder and lightening crashing around him as the rain slashed down. His limbs were tired but he made them work to keep his head out of the bottomless depths. All his life he had hated and feared fire's natural enemy; water. Water quenched and soothed his passionate fire, turning it to steam that could be whipped away by the wind, rendering it powerless. This fear manifested itself in the sea he would not dare as a child and avoided as a man, its infinite bottoms unexplored and mysterious, left to his childhood imagination. There was no worse fate than drowning, he believed. With fire you were consumed, you became one with the flames, dancing and leaping in its craze, powerful and free. With water you were swallowed only to be spat out again, pale and lifeless, trapped in a bloated body full of the taste of salt. You could never be free.

His limbs were cold and tired, seizing up and refusing to move anymore. He was giving up. He could no longer stand to fight the endless horizon of water that was to be the grave that would cage him forever and stop his flight. No one could save him in these storm filled waters. Desperate he floundered but it was useless as his heavy limbs dragged him down, stinging his eyes as he went under. But he could not close them as he sank. He needed to see the sky, to see his freedom one last time, hand outstretched as though he could seize it. His fire dimmed, overcome.

"And so you come to me, homme," Remy said sarcastically, peering down at the ma who had approached him with as much disdain as he gave items stuck to the bottom of his shoe. "I should kick you into next week," he growled, much like Logan would have done. Anyone else would have been threatened by this tall, well-built man but Rhisdon just smiled as though Remy had made an amusing joke as they had drinks in a bar.

"Now Mr LeBeau," his chastised. "There is no need for idle threats. We are not savages." He looked Gambit up and down disapprovingly. "Well at least I'm not."

"Savage or no savage," Remy answered leaning in so his nose was practically touching the short man's perfectly chiselled one. "If you do anything to her," there was no need to ask whom 'her' referred to. "If she is not the same when I wake up, and, oui, I will wake, I will hunt you down and personally string you up. You shall not die though, you will be just alive and I will break every bone in your miserable body. Then I will watch you die slowly," if possible he got even closer, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "That is not a threat. It is a promise."

His eyes remained locked on Rhisdon's as he felt a hand on his shoulder. With a ghost of smile he fell under.

The black suit jacket felt tight across his shoulders making his already unsteady breathing worse. His palms were cold and clammy though it was a perfectly cool day, the sky clouded and dark, holding the promise of rain in their midst. The congregation had started to arrive, more people than he had seen in his life, filing into the billowing doors he paced in front of. He glanced over at the parking lot, his demon eyes sighting his motorbike, beckoning for him to escape, to put as much distance between himself and this place. For a second he almost ran towards its comforting and familiar frame, to seek shelter in the thrill of the open road. It was her face that stopped him, forming in his mind as easily as it would had she been standing there, pulling at his heart strings. She would be so disappointed if her ran, heartbroken.

With a deep breath he braved the church, stepping out of the raging wind outside. Numbly he made his way up the red carpeted aisle to the alter, ignoring the people taking their seats either side of him. Above him the rafters met, stretching upwards to the heavens, making him feel so small and to the sides were the stained glass windows that seemed so plain with no sunlight streaming through them. But he noticed none of these things, just the alter in front, the Crucifix rising up behind it like a ghost that he could not escape. He stopped short of the alter for he could go no further, his path blocked by a casket of deepest jet overflowing with silky material of blood red. Leaning over its side he glimpsed the face he so adored, her beautiful eyes closed as though in slumber. But there was none that could wake her, not even he himself. Hesitantly he reached in and cupped her cheek in his hand, undaunted by the cold and unconcerned by the crying mass at his back, all eyes watching him. No power pulled at his life force, stopping this contact from happening but he knew that he would have given his everything for it to be so. The thing that had stopped them in life had no authority in death. She looked so small, so helpless, auburn hair resting gently against the soft pillow and her skin so pale against the scarlet hue, a colour that had ceased to run in her veins. It wasn't right, she shouldn't be lying in this coffin, dragged so far away from him yet close enough to touch. It wasn't fair. They could have been happy. If only they had been given the chance.

Uncontrollable tears slid down his cheeks, unashamed cries wracked his body robbing him of all his strength but he could not kneel because that would mean leaving her.

"I failed!" he cried to her, knowing that she would not hear. "You saved me and I couldn't save you!" Anger and bitterness tore at him, shredding all his dignity but he did not care. He had never felt like this before, never loved like this, never cried like this, never died like this. My Marie.

And so he cried the tears of an angel from the eyes of a devil.

"And so we end with you," Rhisdon said with a smile, approaching Rogue, who merely looked at him. "What?" He asked looking hurt at the lack of reaction. Why did she not threaten him, or beg, or do something as the others had done? Did she not feel something now that she had watched all her friends sentenced to death. "Do you not have anything to say?"

"What would be the point?" Rogue said finally but not in a defeated tone. She meant it as more of a statement than an acknowledgement of defeat. "Who is here to hear what I have to say besides you. And why waste breath with such a dull audience."

Michael Rhisdon's face turned red with fury. He had been called a lot of things in his life but never dull. He was intelligent, powerful, influential but never dull.

"I'll enjoy this," he said as he placed his hand on her shoulder, careful to make sure she did not move suddenly and bring them in skin to skin contact. But she did not move just closed her eyes and lost herself to her nightmare.

This world was cold and sterile, the walls plain white with a dash of calming blue or serene green, designed to soothe her, appease her, control her. She was alone in her room, though it could have been anyone's for no possessions lined the shelves, no clothes littered the floor. This room was impersonal and dead, its only feature the hard thin, bed that she lay on, the springs digging into her back as she gazed at the ceiling.

It should have been quiet with no noise echoing this empty room beside her breathing, no windows to allow the sounds of the outside environment to penetrate her solitude. But it was not silent for inside a storm raged, a storm with many voices. They screamed at her, pulling her from side to side, yelling, their voices together and yet separate. And she could name everyone.

There was Scott, telling her she was shaming the team by just lying there so complacently, forcefully trying to shove her own consciousness aside in favour of himself, as he had done so many times before.

There was Wolverine, smelling every scent this bland building had to offer, tightening her muscles, ready for the escape effort he was formulating.

There was Jean, her psyche full of torrential power, as unstoppable as the waves that threatened to drown Rogue should she let her.

There was Mystique, her mother, whispering lies in her ear, telling her that it would be so simple to escape if she was allowed to help. In the past she had got through, forcing Rogue to change her shape and pushing her own conscious aside. It was all Rogue could do to claw her way back to her tentative point of power.

There was Magneto muttering about mutant equality and the impact they would have together. Any enemy would cower in their path, the most powerful mutant in existence.

There was Sabretooth, roaring incoherently in her ear and Kurt babbling away in his native language. There were Kitty's innocent giggles, John's manic barks, Lance's brooding silence, Pietro's smart answers, Wanda's barely contained rage.

They argued not just with her, but with each other, bickering constantly filling every space with their shouts. There were so many too, every mutant she had ever absorbed, vying for authority, to shove her off her precarious pedestal and plunge her into the pit of psyches, to be swallowed, to be buried, to be drowned, to be lost forever.

She couldn't take it but she couldn't move, her arms strapped to the bed beside her leaving her unable to run from something that would never leave her. She could do nothing, not even wipe away the single tear falling from her eye, which had lost all its colour leaving them a shadow of their former glory. Everything was over, everything was finished.

But even as she lay there she could hear Remy, his voice so quiet amongst the others but she clung to it. He was there, he was there.

Rhisdon climbed the stairs to his super computer, ready to plant himself in his comfortable chair and enjoy the events below him. He smiled to himself, confident that finally, after long last, he would witness the destruction of the X men, one of the few groups with the capacity to stop every plan he had ever made. He had thought, with the destruction of the mansion, he would have started the war to end all wars and be there to pick up the pieces after the mutant threat was defeated. With himself as a leader of the new USA and possessing his unique abilities, controlling humans would have become very easy, with no one to oppose him.

But that plan had failed. Instead of the war he hoped for, there was piece. But he was resilient, changing his plan to suit this new situation. For years he had worked on stirring up trouble in mutant communities and bombarding various governments with reports of the growing mutant threat as well as making as many people in his debt as possible, placing him beyond the law, even the dreaded SHIELD.

This had taken time though and he was by no means as young as he used to be. It would be another ten years at least before he could take drastic action and he now considered that to be the fault of the X men, especially the woman named Rogue, who he had discovered to be a SHIELD operative and responsible for quelling many of his mutant revolts across the world. A mere consolation prize for his many disappointments was the death of the mutant Piotr Rasputin.

So confidant was Rhisdon of his success, such was his arrogance that he did not bother to look back as he climbed. If he had, he would have seen a pair of green eyes snap open, a single tear dashed on her cheek.   
dun dun duuuunnnnn tune in for the next, explosive chapter, coming soon (hopefully)  
Sorry for the wait, ya'll wanted a longed chappie so you got one. Thankyou for reviewing. 


	19. Chapter 18: The Fool

Chapter 18; The Fool 

Rhisdon continued to walk, strutting and swaggering in the belief he was invincible, that no one would dare to stand in his way. The fool.

A sudden breeze whipped through the hanger ruffling Rhisdon's hair, though the doors were sealed shut and there was no window to the outside world. In confusion Rhisdon whirled round, panic seizing at his heart. He was just in time to see a set of manacles strike the wall, completely unopened and unbroken, as though someone had walked right through them. The clang echoed around him. Eyes wide he turned back and ran up the remainder of the stair, heart pumping as he sprinted to his panic button and the gun that rested beside it.

But a figure stood in his way, the figure of a woman with two-tone hair and eyes like emeralds. She stood just a pace away and yet she did not rush to strike him but hung back, not moving as though she were made of stone, allowing his heart to explode in fear, in anticipation. He stared incredulously, unable to move any further but able to stutter a single word.

"How?"

She laughed then but it was not of victory, hate or any other emotion to be explained. It was hollow, devoid of any feeling like the echo of a laugh, a ghost somehow remembered in this time, this place. And it was foreign to her throat, a mixture of so many people mixed into one.

"Oh Michael," she whispered in her strange voice. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" His expression did not change. "Oh you did?" She laughed harder, as though it were the funniest joke in the world, making his blood boil. But it was not his anger that propelled his dive forwards, no it was blind, unadulterated panic that made him seize her shoulders and thrust her down the metal stairs at the same time screaming for his guards. Rogue even laughed as she clattered down the harsh, unforgiving metal stairs as the doors slid open to reveal guards, armed to the teeth, sprinting in and taking aim on the still form of Rogue.

Her shoulders shook with laughter as she pushed herself up, her various broken bones snapping back into place. For a second the soldiers were unable to move, the sounds of snapping bone cutting into them, although they were used to blood and gore. It took the desperate shout of Rhisdon to wake them from their stupor and open fire on the laughing form. The machine guns roared as they spat out their bullets and yet they heard no cries of a body being pierced by bullets over and over. Nor did they hear any strike the floor. In confusion the guards ceased their barrage and stared open mouthed at the sight before them.

The woman before them stood strong and proud, her hand stretched out in front of her, palm facing them as though ordering them to stop. Not a single bullet had touched her. Instead, the air around her was littered with silver rain, floating stock-still. With a casual sweep of her hand they fell to the ground, each striking the hard floor with a tinkle. She watched them fall, each one. Then her emerald eyes snapped up. With a devilish grin, she threw herself at the contingent, her fists striking like hammers, her body covered in metal. The guards battled as hard as they could but their punches seemed to pass through thin air, or a type of smoke from an unseen source.

Rhisdon stared down from the high platform, desperately trying to work out what was happening below. How could this mutant, this freak, outmanoeuvre him? How could she break free from his grip, how could she survive his attack? The stink of sulphur filled his nostrils as the lower hanger was slowly engulfed by smoke. He could see the action no longer, but he could hear the sounds of a hard fought battle. He gave up his vigil, instead he made for the higher-level exit. Smoke spread up around him as he did, so that he had to feel his way to the control panel to release the door catch. His fingers brushed over the control panel but instead of the comforting feel of a keypad, he felt loose wires and a crushed screen. The panel was broken.

"Did you really think I would be that stupid?" A disembodied voice called from the smoke, somewhere to his left. Rhisdon tried to quell his fear, feeling his way along the desk towards the drawer he kept his gun. He heard a bampf noise but decided to ignore it, to concentrate on the prize of his weapon.

"I feel a little insulted Mr Rhisdon," the voice continued, this time from the right. "I thought you were a chatty man, always wanting a conversation. Well as you wont tell me what's going on in your mind, I shall tell you what is happening in mine."

Sweat broke out on Rhisdon's forehead. This wasn't the woman he had been speaking to just a short while ago. True it was Rogues body but she was no longer behind the wheel.

"You see it's rather complicated in here. I have some people telling me to just leave, to forget everyone in this room, my friends, even you Mr Rhisdon. And then there is another group saying that I should just kill you. I must admit that that option does seem rather tempting at present but that doesn't satisfy another group up here. You see they want to save you, god knows why, and use you. They say that you can free those unfortunate souls in the hanger below us from their miserable fate. Do I believe them Mr Rhisdon? Can you really help them? Because I'm not even sure if I want to."

Rhisdon slipped his fingers round the desk draw and quietly pulled. All he needed was a little time, just a little more.

"So you see I have a dilemma. How can I please everyone? You know Mr Rhisdon, this is all your fault. Rogue had maintained those walls very admirably, kept us all back. And then you spoiled it all. Your little trick made those walls just crumble. But, you see, Rogue allowed them to crumble because she knew only we could save the day. The question now is, do we want to be the hero?"

With one last effort, Rhisdon wrenched the drawer open and seized his gun, hope flooding through him as he felt the cold steel in his hand. Turning triumphantly he called to the smoke.

"You're insane!"

Little did he know that he was turning to find Rogue standing nose to nose with him, leaving him no space to raise his weapons. His eyes locked onto her green one, filled with cruelty and malice, an evil smile on her lips.

"I'm so glad you noticed," and with that she seized the sides of his face with her bare hands. Rhisdon felt the drain instantaneously, his life ebbing out of him with every second. He did not have the strength to break free of her vice like grip. This was the end. The end of his life and his dream. With a last effort he eased the gun so that it pressed against her body and, as he felt his knees weaken, with all his might he squeezed the trigger.

Her half closed eyes flared with the sudden pain but she did not release her hold. Instead, grimly, determinedly she clung on until she felt all of him contained within her. Then she let go, allowing his lifeless form to sprawl on the floor. She staggered backwards, blinking down at her stomach. Gently she touched it, her hand coming away smeared with blood. Amazingly, the pain seemed to clear her mind. Why wasn't she healing? She probed her mind and found that she had over extended herself, that she was absolutely exhausted. For the first time she felt the rise of panic. She needed the energy, just for this one last thing, then she could sleep, forever if needs be. She staggered over to the edge of the platform; her bloodied hand outstretched to the figures slumped below, just visible through the clearing smoke.

"Jean," she whispered to herself. "This is for just one last time. Help me, help me reach their minds. Together we can do this. Help me save them."

Something inside her responded to her plea and it seemed to her addled brain that her consciousness was flowing out of her arm and down to her stricken friends. But with it followed her strength. She fell to her knees, feeling the blood tricking down her to drip onto the floor. Despite her weakness, the irony of the situation was not lost on her. She had only just regained her family, and now, after so long, they were to be separated again. If she could, she would laugh.

Her arm dropped to her side, all strength completely gone.

"Typical," she gasped, before toppling sideways. And there she lay, her life's blood pooling around her. But her consciousness was no longer in that body, instead it had travelled, had spread to the tortured minds of her friends below, to save them, as she always would.


	20. Chapter 19: Hand in Mine Part I

Chapter 19: Hand in Mine Part One

The Professor sobbed into the mud, unable to move, not caring if the soldiers found him. In fact he wished they would. They would mercilessly kill him, take him away forever. It was only a matter of time, all he had to do was wait. That was something he was good at.

It didn't take long for him to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Part of him just wanted to lie there and wait for oblivion. But something in his soul, his curiosity maybe, made him prop himself up on his elbow s and look skywards. And the sight took his breath away.

Standing straight, proud and tall before him was a ghost, dressed in a long trench coat and fighting boots. Her green eyes gazed down at him with pity and he stared up in wonder.

"Oh Professor," she whispered, her voice full of sorrow. "What is this world you have created." She bent into a crouch so that she was closer to him. She bore no mark from the battle he had witnessed just moments before.

"H…how?" He stuttered, for once his clever mind unable to process the information. "I saw them take you."

She chose to ignore his question.

"What is happening here?" She asked, looking into his eyes. "Why is it happening?"

"They're gone," he sobbed. "All gone, dead. And with them my dream, my own life. How can I exist in this world? How can I make this world better, when it is so full of hate?"

To his surprise his student grinned, a full smile so out of place in such carnage.

"Professor, don't you see? No one said life is easy, on the contrary, to live in this world is hard enough but to change it, that is much harder. But you can do it," her voice was full of assurance, as though she believed in every word. "You can bring the mutant world all together."

"But look around, the team, my team are all dead!" He protested.

Her smile faltered.

"We all understood the risks when we joined. But we are not the only mutants in the world. There are thousands; millions out there who need you, Professor, and only you can reach all of them. 'The work goes on, the causes endure, the hope still lives and dreams shall never die'."

"Edward Kennedy," he registered, with the ghost of a smile.

"You taught us well," she answered. "Now what do you say, Professor, shall we try to change the world, just one more time?" She extended a hand towards him, showing friendship, to save him.

He did not hesitate in taking it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wolverine rocked himself back and forth, while the pure white snow fell around him. The whiteness around him was marred by red, red blood. He heard footsteps crunching in the snow, coming purposefully towards him. The wind carried a scent that tugged on his memory. He did not look up as they drew nearer; he was just so tired of fighting.

"Go away!" he hissed into his blood stained hands.

"Logan," said a soft, female voice with a Deep South accent.

At the name, Wolverine's head shot up. Like her scent, this name roused something in his mind. Was this his name? At last he let his eyes settle on the girl before him. She was slim, neither short nor tall but beautiful, her skin pale and serene. Opposite to what he was, the animal he was. She stepped towards him.

"Stay away!" he cried, cowering in on himself, suddenly ashamed. She should not see him like this, no one should. For a time he heard nothing, and for a second he thought she had taken him by his word and fled. If possible, he felt even more alone. He let the arm that covered his face fall and saw that she had not run but had settled herself in the snow opposite him and was now staring intently at him. He found himself hypnotised by her emerald eyes, eyes he thought he has seen many times before.

"Do I know you?" he asked innocently. He was rewarded by a grin.

"No, but you will Logan. We will know each other very well," she said.

His confused mind didn't quite understand what she had just said but he interpreted it to mean they were friends.

"But how can you get to know, be friends with someone like me?" he questioned, no longer aggressive but neither was he tame, the wildness lurking somewhere within him. "Look at me!" He held his blood-stained hands out in front of her. From his knuckles protruded razor sharp spikes, claws fit for a beast. "I am a monster!"

To his surprise, she took his outstretched hands in hers, unperturbed by the deadly blades. Gently, she ran her fingers across the back of his hands, along his knuckles not caring about the bloodstains. Wolverine watched in amazement as the blades retracted, disappearing into his hand, the wounds they had created sealing behind them.

"How?" he asked in wonderment.

"Logan, you are no monster," she said honestly, her tone filling him with hope and trust. "No more than I am. The beats within does not rule you, no, you rule the beast."

She rose to her feet, standing over him, the sun at her back making her seem to glow.

" A friend once asked me how long forever is," she continued. She extended a pure white hand towards him, offering him friendship, solace and an identity. Yet he still hesitated. "Forever is a long, long time but it is an eternity when you are alone."

"I don't want to be alone anymore," he whispered before setting his red hand in her white one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The people walked straight through him, as though he didn't exist. But suddenly he felt a presence next him.

"I should have guessed," a woman's voice muttered. Scott glanced down at the girl who had just suddenly appeared on his left. The people around them bustled past but they didn't seem to walk through her like they did him. Instead she did not seem to be touched. "Is this really how you see the world Scott? Somewhere you can never truly fit in?"

"How else am I supposed to see it?" He retorted. "Nobody wants me here. In that place," he nodded to the orphanage. " I was always alone. Everyone moves on but not me, not me."

"But you did Scott," the girl continued. "To the institute. You were never, ever alone there. You were our leader, you still are," he looked sharply down at her. She smiled up at him, a smile he almost returned before he stopped himself.

"But I was alone. I lost everything. My home, my family…Jean."

"Ahh I see now," she nodded, as though she knew everything.

"I saw her get married you know," Scott continued conversationally. "I couldn't even see the guys face."

She laughed then, a dry chuckle as though she were mocking his stupidity. He was so offended his mouth worked wordlessly.

"I'll tell you something for nothing," she continued, filling the silence. "No matter who Jean marries, she's going to see your face, even if it is just for a split second, and when your face is gone, it will be all she thinks about."

"It doesn't change the fact that she's married to another man," he said. She nodded in agreement.

"But nothing is forever," she said finally. "Scott, everyone is alone until they choose not to be. For once in your life Scott, fight for what you want. Choose not to be alone."

She held a hand out in front them and, for once, Scott did something without thinking. He seized her hand in his.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pietro beat the floor with hit fists, sending up sprays of water, before burying his face in the crook of his arm. She hated him! And who could blame her? He was his father's son.

"Do you always believe what your father tells you?" a voice said, breaking into his thoughts. Abruptly he stopped and looked up to see a woman with two-toned hair and a brown trench coat leaning against the lamppost, seemingly untouched by the rain. "I must say Pietro, that isn't like you."

Wanda seethed inside, her rage all-consuming. He had betrayed her, even after all this time. He sided with the greatest enemy of all, their own father. Such were her thoughts that she did not even bother to struggle with her attackers, but let them take her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure sitting on a bench nearby, the red and white of her hair evident even in the darkness. She stared at Wanda and gently shook her head.

"How can you think that of him?" She asked, her voice somehow reaching Wanda over the drumming of the rain and the footsteps of the medics.

Pietro stared at this woman.

"Didn't you hear her?" he shouted over the rain, pointing at the building. "She hates me!"

"Do you really think that?" She replied, moving away from the lamppost to crouch next to him. "And even if she does, that doesn't mean she doesn't need you. And you need her, Pietro. She is part of you, two halves of a whole."

"Are you blind?" Wanda called to this mysterious woman. "He won't even try."

"That is because you never give him the chance," the woman on the bench replied. "You see too much of his father in him. Ignore Magneto, see Pietro, you might be surprised."

Pietro stared into the woman's face next to him, his tears washed away by the rain.

"You've made the mistake of letting her go once. Don't do it again," at her words, Pietro stood slowly, shoulders squared decidedly.

Wanda glanced away from this mysterious woman back to her brother. Slowly, the man at his side, their father melted into the background, disappeared completely. And she saw him, standing tall and strong. In a second he was by her side, flinging aside her captors, freeing her.

"Thank you," Wanda whispered.

"No," Pietro replied with a smile. "Thank you."

"Let the past stay in the past," came a voice. The woman extended her hands towards them. "This is now."

And they set their hands in hers.


	21. Chapter 20: Hand in Mine Part II

Chapter 20: Hand in Mine Part II 

She was trapped, there was nowhere to go as the walls closed in around her. She didn't have the strength to rise, to push against her enclosure.

"Liar," a voice called, echoing in the small space, making it sound powerful. Even in her curled position, Storm peered through her arms. Immediately the smallness of the room hit her, making her crawl back into herself.

"Liar," the voice repeated, accusing.

"What?" Storm shouted back, her own voice small and weak. Still she could not bear to open her eyes.

"You say you are not strong enough," the voice continued. "I say you lie. I can't help you if you refuse to help yourself. You have never needed anyone to carry you before, you don't need me to pick you up now."

Storm ceased her rocking, listening intently though she feared what would happen should she open her eyes.

"I can't," she called. "I can't! The walls…"

"Don't matter," the voice broke in. "Reach inside Ororo. What do you find there?"

Almost unconsciously, Storm did as she was bidden. Somehow, underneath all her fear, her crippling fear, she could sense something, something good, something primal, something strong.

Without opening her eyes, she rose to her knees, then to her feet, every movement filling her with new confidence.

"Open you eyes," the voice commanded.

And she did. She saw the hand before her, not the walls closing in. She saw this strong hand, promising safety as she stood on her own two feet. Everyone needs a little help. She grasped the pale hand in her dark one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jean tried and tried but there was not a thing she could do. He was slipping away before her very eyes, drifting to a place where she could not follow. The pebbles spun faster and faster as she reached deeper and deeper, finding nothing but a huge well of power that could possibly be directed or controlled. It was like trying to cling to a slippery rope.

Suddenly she felt a something seize her face and felt a pull on everything that made her her. Desperately she swotted it away. It was trying to defeat her, drain her and make her powerless. And then Scott would be truly lost

"Don't fight me," a voice hissed, its tone a mixture of annoyance, desperation, and if she wasn't mistaken, pain. "Its not shameful to let someone help you. You can't do this alone, you can't hold that sort of power, locked up within one person. Share your burden with me, the only one who can. We can save Scott, together for we cannot do it alone. Let me help you."

For a moment, Jean felt like refusing saying she could go it alone but as she looked down at Scott she realised that was impossible. No man was an island. She glanced up at the girl before her, a girl with two-toned hair who had fought her way through a barrier of pebbles just to stand at her side with her hand outstretched ready to help her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Never be human.

The words rushed around his head, filling every sense as he sat in the cubicle of the boy's toilets of Bayville High. A small part of him wondered why, when he had the ability to be anywhere he wished, he had chosen to release his sorrow in the third cubicle down. But that was an issue he did not care about at this specific moment of time.

He had dealt with cruelty before; it was something he had long expected. But not from Scott, not from his friends. Their betrayal, for it was a betrayal, cut him deeper than any knife ever could, severing from the only sense of society he had ever experienced.

A crash made him look up from his knees. Underneath the door he spotted booted feet, thudding determinedly through the bathroom. They did not stop to push open the first three doors but marched straight to his. Despite its lock, at the touch of the arrival, it swung gently open to reveal a girl with two-toned hair. A girl he knew so well.

"Rogue?" he whispered confused, not only because she was in the boy's bathroom but also because she looked pale, paler than usual and she was looking at him with eyes that betrayed immense relief. Then anger resurged in him. She had turned away from him when he had needed her most. She must have seen rage contort his features as he rose to his feet because she frowned, as though unsure of what he was so angry about.

"Get out!" He shouted at her, making her jump slightly as he raised his voice above his normal level. "Don't look at me as though you have no idea about what I'm talking about! You abandoned me, you ignored me! I am outcaste! Scott revealed everything in front of everyone and you just sat there as though you never knew me!"

Comprehension dawned on her face, as though she were piecing together two sides of the story and finally coming up with a whole.

"Oh Kurt," she began calmly but Kurt cut across her.

"No Rogue, I will not be convinced by whatever you say! Actions speak louder than words and what you just did told me everything I need to know! I do not belong here! I WILL NEVER BE HUMAN!"

She moved like lightening, her strong pale hand clamping over his mouth, silencing him.

"Never say that!" She said fiercely, her eyes burning with conviction. "Never say that! You are more human than so many people in this world! When you are injured, do you not bleed? When you are happy, do you not laugh and when you are sad, do you not cry? Oh Kurt, you are not afraid to feel. I can't do that. I cannot wear my heart on my sleeve; I want to encase it in armour because I'm so scared that it will be broken again. And that makes me cold and unfeeling; it makes me less than human. I envy you Kurt because you will be more human than I will ever be."

She fell to her knees before him, tears running down her pale, drawn cheeks.

"On my knees, Kurt, I beg for your forgiveness. I turned you away when I should have welcomed you with open arms, delivered to me after so much longing and hoping. Forgive me Kurt because if I don't ask for it now I never will. Forgive me Kurt, for I have forgiven you everything. Forgive me."

Kurt stared down at his sister, on her knees before him. He could not recall when he had ever heard her speak in such a way, when tears had flown so freely from her eyes so that they matched his. And in that moment he realised their similarities. He felt his own wet cheek and gently touched hers, feeling the same wetness under his fingers. He was as human as she was. He collapsed to his knees and threw his arms around her slim frame, clutching her close, as he had never done before. Further still, she clung to him as a drowning man clings to a rope.

Finally they broke apart. She raised her pale, smooth, five-fingered hand and he pressed his blue, furry, three-fingered hand against it, palm to palm.

"I love you Kurt."

"I love you Marie."

Their fingers closed, entwined.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lance could not think outside his panic. He was dumb to everything else. He fingers raked the walls, making his nails bleed and leave bloody trails. He could hear them coming drawing closer, making his heart thump faster and faster riving his mind right to the teetering brink. Then a voice broke through. For a moment he thought he had dived headfirst into insanity but then he realised it came from the earpiece he wore, exactly the same one he wore on missions.

"Lance," Rogue's crackly voice called over the airwaves. He welcomed her calming tones, allowing himself to be filled by the confidence she oozed. "Lance calm down. Remember, you are a mutant, you are not restricted by human law."

Those simple words told Lance exactly what he had to do. With a roar he planted his feet, eyes rolling back and allowed shock waves to ripple through the ground. The walls, for all their height, were powerless against the onslaught to their foundations and immediately began to tumble. When Lance looked up, the walls that were once his obstacle were rubble at his feet. He picked his way across it. He reached the centre of what used to be a maze. Now it was an eerily quite wasteland. Then he heard a small sound. Panic flared for a moment as he thought it was a siren. But no cries followed, no torches spun looking for their target. Instead a cat stepped gingerly from the rubble, its fur as black as night. Lance didn't hear Rogue step up behind him as he stared at it.

"Well you don't need to be a high school graduate to work out what that symbolises," she said, nodding towards the four-legged creature winding its way round Lance's leg. Lance looked at her bemused.

"You know you never have to go back to that life," she continued with a sigh, completely changing the subject with ease.

"That's because of you," Lance said. "You gave me something, a mission that gave me a purpose."

"I did, didn't I," she said with a smile. "But don't pretend that it was me that you did all this for." She looked down at the cat again. "Lance, don't let her go, not now that you have her. Let her become your life, your purpose."

"But what about you?" He asked innocently.

"She is your past and your future," she replied sadly. "I was merely here to fill up the time in between. Besides, it doesn't matter now." He gaze wandered into the distance for a moment before fixing on him once again. "Love her Lance, she deserves it."

"Is that an order?" He joked, winning a smile in return.

"Yes. Come," she held out a hand. "I shall deliver you to her."

"You always have."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kitty fell, screaming endlessly, earth rushing past. She could breathe but he mind still rushed with questions. Would she suddenly stop or would she fall straight through to the other side of the world? And no one could help her. She was alone, with only herself to rely on.

"Do you trust me?" Something asked. Was it inside of her or some other force? Could she trust so freely, even if it was herself? Everyone in her life had let her down. She had been left alone in a foreign land, a street kid with no money and no passport and no one had come for her. How could she trust anyone again? But she trusted herself. She had survived because she made it so.

Despite it all, she felt her scream cease and allowed her mouth to form one word.

"Yes."

She felt a hand seize hers and pull her sharply up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Despite the storm, he could see the sun, a blurry orb above him, fading as he sank deeper into the ocean's embrace. The something flickered in his mind, a single word. Hope.

Some part of him found the strength to kick his legs, ceasing his downward tumble. Fire was insatiable; it would not be so easily beaten. Fire was life, fire was love, fire was hope. Despite the sting his eyes stayed open, focusing upwards as his arms floundered and struggle upwards. Yet even as he fought he knew it was not enough.

But Hope would not abandon him. A shadow drifted across the sun and a hand plunged into the depths. He stretched, recognising the rings of his leader, his Lady Hope. His fingertips brushed hers. It was enough. Hope hung on pulling his upwards to the fiery orb of the sun.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

His tears could not stop, would not stop. He did not know how long he sat there, weeping but then a hand touched his shoulder. He whirled round, ready to let rip his anger out on any who dared disturb his time with her. But it was the not the face of Scott, his own tears covered by his glasses, that met his eyes. Nor was it Logan, his craggy face impassive with shock, nor Jean, not a hair out place, nor Kitty, needing comfort, nor Kurt. It was her.

She stood before him, her green eyes full of tears but shining with life. The church was completely empty save himself, her body and what must be her ghost. He could not speak.

"Oh Remy," she whispered. "If I could spare you this, I would. God knows I would."

"But you are here," he answered, a smile beginning on his grief stricken features. "You are here, my Marie. You came back to me." It occurred to him that he had not touched her but as he extended his hand she skipped away from him.

"You know I have not," her face was haunted with sorrow. "You know I cannot."

"I don't understand," he said, stepping closer. He just needed to be near her, to feel her.

"Neither do I," a tear slipped down her cheek. She looked over at her body, eyes travelling up and down it. He followed her gaze.

"I should have saved you," he muttered, hanging his head in shame, allowing tears to run off his nose onto the cold floor of the church.

She made as if to go to him but something restrained her. Unable to look, she allowed her eyes to travel the building, taking in the cold white lily flower arrangement. She had always liked those flowers. Then she spotted something.

"Oh Remy," her voice drifted though the stillness of the church. "Don't you know you already have?"

He looked up sharply towards her, his eyes fixing, surprisingly not on her but the board at her side.

Marie LeBeau

Beloved wife and mother

It was simple, so simple it was almost stupid but the enormity of those simple words hit him heavily. Part of his heart lifted. She was his, his completely and no one else's. He staggered forwards, away from the open coffin that held her earth bound body in eternal slumber, and towards everything that defined her, everything that would be his to cherish for the rest of his life. He fell to his knees before it, tracing the words with his fingertips.

"My wife," he uttered, a genuine smile, not hopeful, not sad but a genuine smile spread across his features, bring them to life again. "Our children." He looked up at her, standing radiant with a stained glass window at her back. Tears ran freely down her cheeks, though now he felt no sadness, his heart was filled with hope. All because of her.

"You are mine," he whispered happily. "Now and forever."

"Always," she sobbed, her word almost like a promise.

"Do not cry my love," he longed to lift her chin, so that she could look up into his eyes. "You shall never leave me. I have a piece of you, here, in my heart, and every time I look at my children, our children, I shall see a piece of you in them. You are not gone, Marie, you are with me still."

"I wish I could give you all of that," she wept, staring up at him and watching his face crumple in confusion. What was she talking about? She had given it to him. His bemused face made her cry all the harder, so that she doubled up and sank to the floor. He followed her down, kneeling before her. She raised her hand and made to touch his cheek but she found she could not. She was weakening. "I will wait for you," she sobbed. Rushing forward, she pressed her ghost lips against his and although she felt nothing physical, she felt all the love in her heart seem to burst open.

He reached out his hand towards her and she tried to touch hers to it but found her hand drift through. Breaking apart, he saw determination through the tears. Her face seemed to be completely devoid of colour, as though she were fading from him. For all his words he felt panic seize him and he flung out a hand.

"Stay with me," he cried. And his hand closed over hers, holding her there as she pulled him free.


	22. Chapter 21: Awake

Chapter 21: Awake 

Remy LeBeau woke with a start. He was kneeling on a cold floor, his hands clasped in manacles above his head that chinked as he moved. His head felt muzzy and heavy as though he was suffering from a particularly potent hangover. Groggily he looked around him. The X-Men and his own team seemed to be showing the same symptoms he was feeling, waking slowly and propping themselves up as they blinked.

Then the chain of events hit him, his memory flooding back into his mind. Urgency spread through the Cajun's body, making him move all the faster. He glanced to the side, the side where Rogue had been standing before Rhisdon's mental attack. The chains that once encircled her wrists hung limply against the wall, unbroken and unopened.

His demon eyes swept the room, taking in the chaos. Dead and injured guards littered a blood stained floor, bullets strewn across them like confetti. Red eyes travelled up the stairs onto the control bridge. There lay Rhisdon, his blood spilling onto the top steps and his cold, dead eyes staring out of his skull. Remy felt no sorrow over his obviously painful demise. His gaze had already been captured by another fallen figure, this time of a woman near to the edge of the raised platform.

"NOOOO!" His scream echoed round the hanger.

With a bang the manacles exploded off his hands and, as Rhisdon promised, triggered another explosion that left his hands bloody and burnt. But he did not seem to notice as he staggered to his feet and stumbled up the stairs.

He fell to his kneels at her side and desperately turned her over, hoping for any signs of life. But she was limp in his arms, her face devoid of all colour. His fevered eyes took in the bullet wound in her stomach, brushing his own fingers against it so that their heart's blood mingled as one.

"No," he whispered, eyes travelling back to her face. "NO!" His voice grew stronger as he seized her shoulders and shook her. "You can't leave me! It was a dream, a dream! It wasn't true! This isn't how it's supposed to be!" Her head rolled with each shake.

Downstairs, the team listened to his anguished cries, unsure of what to do.

"Wake up!"

Scott got wearily to his feet. He may have been named leader but he knew that the true leader, at least now, lay in the arms of her lover upstairs. Tears ran down his cheeks. She had saved him and by the looks of everyone else in the room she had saved them too. And now her presence was gone.

"Wake up!"

Who was going to save them now? Who was going to offer them a helping hand without being asked? Who was going to be there, no matter what?

"Scott?" A voice broke into his grief. It was the Professor, steadily climbing to his feet. Rage clouded the younger mans judgment and he stepped towards his mentor, drawing his fist back.

"This is your fault!" He raged against the backdrop of Remy's despairing cries. "You ignored her warnings and now she has paid our debt!"

But the young man could not land his punch as the Professor deftly stepped aside.

"It is my fault," the bald man admitted calmly. As Scott looked into his eyes he saw a familiar clarity. Gone was the fevered man intent on revenge and back was his mentor, his guide, his friend. "But I will make it right," he said it with such conviction it seemed almost possible.

"Jean," the Professor ordered. "See to Rogue, we will not let her go so lightly. Pietro, find a safe root to the Blackbird. Kurt go with him. The rest pull yourselves together and prepare to leave as soon as possible. We, none of us, will end here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Remy would not leave her side, would not stop talking to her. His hands caressed her face, smearing his blood over her pale cheeks, his eyes never left her face. Somehow, against all odds, Jean had located the faintest hint of a pulse and Remy clung to the hope with both hand. He had sprinted with her in his arms to the Blackbird to find Beast bleeding heavily having successfully protected the plane from attack. In less than five minutes, the team, united under tragedy, were on course back to the New Orleans lair.

Kitty stood in the doorway leading to the cockpit, watching her friend slowly dying as both Jean and Beast hurriedly tried to stem the flow of blood from the wound in her stomach. She watched the way Remy tearfully begged for Rogue to hold on, the way his hands sought the contours of her face, shaking and hurried, his face frantic as time slipped away. In the cockpit there was silence as the Professor plotted the route and Scott flew with full thrusters, his masked eyes staring intently at the horizon, willing the Blackbird to go faster.

The young brunette felt someone step up beside her. Without looking she knew it to be Lance, could feel the weight of him next to her as though he were an extension of herself. An extension that she did not realise existed until that moment. Wordlessly, she slipped her hand into his rough one, half expecting a sudden rebuke. But it didn't come. His hand closed about hers and squeezed. He raised her hand to his lips, and when he kissed her skin, she felt the bitter touch of tears. At last she turned towards him and saw in those tear-filled eyes everything she had hoped to see, all the apologies, all the sorrow of separation, the final, emotional surrender. And her heart wrenched.

Behind them another lover kissed the hand of his amore but she did not register his touch. She did not turn her face to him and smile or cry or frown or do one of a hundred different expressions, though her heart and soul cried every bittersweet tear.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside the Infirmary, it was like every other hospital waiting room.

There were the pacers, the individuals whose insides were screaming for an action that could not manifest outside their own minds. Every fibre craved action but felt useless and vulnerable in the face of such an enemy as death, inevitable, unconquerable but could possibly be delayed.

But these pacers were different. Yes, they walked the same paths over and over again but in their steps was an awareness, an alertness of life.

Scott's eyes strayed towards the door, and when the red head stepped out, he held himself a little straighter, could not keep his eyes off her with the look of a drowning man who has just spotted rescue. In turn, he felt the gaze of others, looking for the leader within him. As he walked, he squeezed the shoulders of his comrades, a physical touch so desperately needed. He had woken up.

The Wolverine prowled, an animal that made the place seem small, claustrophobic. His movements were fluid and relentless, though his tread was heavy and fierce. But when he caught his form in any reflective surface, he saw Logan, a man battling with human grief, not a beast, clawing to get out. At last he could see. At last he had woken.

Of course there were the couples. The ones that clung together in a time of crisis and refused to let go, even after the danger has long since passed. In some cases, it drew them closer but in others it devastated, leaving broken hearts to add to grief.

But these couples were different. In each other they found the missing piece of them that until that moment they did not know was even missing.

Pietro sat with his sister, the silence comfortable and appropriate between them. Wanda did not touch her brother, did not need to because she knew he would always be there by her side. Blood was thicker than water, and the love of a sibling is a priceless commodity. It gives and receives in equal measure, is dependant on the sharing of memories and experiences that is possibly missing from a relationship based on sexual attraction. But further more, they are part of one another, made up of the same ingredients mixed in a slightly different way. And in that difference does the love lies. They had woken up.

Kitty and Lance sat touching, revelling in the physical contact that had been denied them. Words had become a useless commodity between them. His hand spoke of firmness, steadiness like the rocks he controlled. In his hand she knew he would always catch her, an anchor in a storm tossed sea. Her skin spoke of new beginnings, an opportunity of leaving behind one life and replacing it with the new. Her hand was a resurrection. They had woken up.

And then there are the loners, the ones that curl in on themselves, standing alone, isolated from the group, employing the coping mechanism of loneliness.

But theses loners were different.

John stood by the window, his manic smile missing for once, his eyes clouded and filled with quenching tears. But they did not shed. He stood, staring up at the sun dipping below the horizon, picking out the silhouettes of the house and factories, a microcosm of human life. And he was another part. Like the sun, he burned inside but now he knew his place, knew that the people in both the room and outside needed him, his light, his fire just as much as he needed them. He would not be quenched. He had woken.

Ororo was undaunted by the walls around her. They did not close in on her, they would not close in on her. For in this room were the loves of her life, and this room was their shelter and protection. They were to be feared no longer for she knew herself to be mightier. Walls could be broken but her heart was like Logan's adamantium, feeling but indestructible. She had only just woken.

Kurt was the only one not in the room. He was in the kitchen, a place that seemed to signify everything that was home. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the blue blur of his reflection in the kettle. He stepped hesitantly towards it, as though fearing the elongated, distorted reflection that did not look at all human. But as he looked closer he saw his eyes, blue with tears, and saw every emotion that made him who he was, the man he was. Forever human, forever Kurt, forever Marie. He had woken.

Waking, a state of consciousness. But behind the doors it was different. As they awoke to find themselves altered, the very person who changed them, saved them, slowly slipped further away. As they rushed around her, trying everything to return the favour she had granted so willingly, her world had slowed. They were inconsistent blurs. But she could feel one who hung onto her, keeping her alive by the barest of touches. He held so tightly it was as though he were slipping too, following her down the path like an innocent child. They were sleeping still.


	23. Chapter 22: Lies

Chapter 22: Lies Chapter 22: Lies

The Professor stepped slowly out into the waiting room. Immediately every head shot up as though an electric current had been passed through the room, alerting the sirens in their heads. Such was the noise that no one could speak, ask the question they so badly wanted answered.

The Professor could barely meet their eyes, could not look into the faces of the people who had trusted him so willingly and who he failed time and again. At last he stirred his courage, calling upon the renewed pride that had been awakened within him.

"I'm sorry," he tried to say those accursed words evenly, but even his reserve could not control it. His voice broke and faltered but he managed them none the less. Those two small words had an enormous effect on those around him. Pietro reached for his sister's hand, John's quenching tears spilled over his fire, Kitty dropped Lance's hand as though it bit her. Scott was for once lost for words, Ororo gaped open mouth, as though trying to comprehend. Kurt's heart broke. But Logan howled.

"NOOOOO!" He wailed, shoving the Professor to the floor as he rushed past. Flinging the doors wide he burst into the room. Jean and Beast moved to restrain him but he easily pushed them away. Remy did not move from his vigil, watching his lover's prone form as her chest rose and fell ever so slightly.

Logan clamped his hands either side of her face.

"LIVE!" He screamed. "LIVE, GIRL! C'MON STRIPES!"

He clung tightly but yet he felt no pull. Her powers refused to work, refused to take his, refused to save her, refused to live.

"It won't work," Remy said quietly, such a contrast to Logan's cries. "She ain't got the energy no more." He stroked her hand gently with his thumb. "Its only a matter of time."

Logan let go as though her skin burnt him. He stared down at the figure on the bed, no more than a child, the years that should have spread before her violently cut short. She was his kindred spirit, an outsider, a protégé. He was not meant to outlive her. Slowly his features contorted once again to anger. He ran from the ghost of her body, bursting back into the waiting room. His claw like hands seized the Professor's shirt front, all the respect he had for the man set aside in that moment of fury.

"Its your fault," he growled, thrusting his face ferociously forward. "Its your fault she's dying!"

The Professor opened his mouth, but whether it was a protestation or an admission of guilt, it never reached another's ears.

"No!"

Another voice broke Logan from his anger. Startled he turned to see Kurt standing in the doorway, tears running freely down his furry face. The Professor stared confused. Of all the people to stand up for him, Kurt was pretty far down the list.

"I won't let you do this. She isn't even dead yet and you are cheapening her sacrifice by arguing, by blaming each other." Kurt stepped forward, each step a blow to the arguing two. "Well I have something to tell you. Its no ones fault. It was Rogue's choice, Rogue's decision to exchange her life for ours. No one else's. Yes, Professor you created the situation but Logan are you blameless? Can you say that you did not encourage her to help us?" Logan stared at him dumb. "Why did we agree to this scheme? To relive old glories? We are all guilty. But this honour is Rogue's. None of us own it but her. She gave her life willingly, no one took it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Jean?"

The telekinetic looked up into the mirror to see Scott standing in the doorway behind her. She was leaning over the sink in the bathroom, tears dripping down her face but when she saw him, she straightened, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

She didn't look good.

Her face was drawn and pale with tiredness and sorrow. Her tears had left streaks down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy. Her hair was an unkempt mess, seeming to have lost its red fire. She snorted slightly as she run her hand over her mouth and nose, patting her hair in an attempt to control it.

Her eyes dropped as she turned and she tried to duck out of the room without a word being said.

Scott closed the door, barring her exit.

"Scott, please, not now…" she began, her eyes fixed on the floor.

"Then when?" Scott said urgently, stepping forward and taking her shoulders. "There is never a good time for what I have to say, no opportune moment."

"Scott…"

"No, I need to say this and I need to say it now because if I don't I never will," the words tumbled out before he could stop. "And I'll regret it forever. Jean, I love you. I have always loved you. And it has taken today to make me realise that if I want you, I'm going to have to fight for you. So that's what I'm doing, I'm fighting for you because Rogue has shown me that life is too short for doubt. I'm choosing not to be alone."

"I'm marrying another man!" she cried, finally looking up at him, brandishing her ring as tears sprung to her eyes once again.

"I don't care!" Scott returned at equal volume and passion. "It should be me!"

"You are my past Scott, Tom is my future!" she shook her head, confused. "You can't do this to me!"

"I can and I will because for once I'm not going to give up," he returned, seizing the side of her face to stop her shaking it. He pressed his lips against hers, hurried and passionate, wet with her tears but she did not pull away. "This is fate," he whispered. "This is you and me. I made a mistake staying away, but I've learnt from mistakes and all I want is you."

Then she pushed him away, wide-eyed. She bolted towards the door but Scott caught her arm.

"Look at me and tell me that it won't be my face you see when you marry him, it wont be my lips you feel on yours."

She wrenched her arm free and he let her go.

She fled.

She could not lie.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everything hurt. His hands were bandaged after he numbly gave in to Beast's demands to staunch the blood from the explosion. His limbs were numb and weak. But these pains were nothing, a dull throb, compared to the anguish of his heart.

They had left him alone, he was thankful of that, alone with her. She lay on the bed, her breathing supported by a machine, the rise and fall of her chest a lying hope that she was ok. If he looked past the tubes, it was almost as though she were asleep.

She was even more beautiful when she was asleep. She had a sort of peace about her, free from the stress of the waking world. Her face was smooth, without the frown that she always seemed to wear. Here she was young, like the teenager he had fallen for. In the waking world she had responsibility beyond her years and in her eyes he saw experiences that no one should ever have to bear. But asleep, she was free, twenty years old again.

But, sometimes she would have nightmares, horrors that made her wake screaming, barely able to recognise him or where she was. She would speak in the languages she had picked up from those she touched; German, Russian, Spanish. But he would wrap his arms about her, hold her close to his chest until she recognised him, spoke his name gently and tumbled once more into slumber.

How he wished she would wake now, be it screaming or silent. He longed to hold her close, to feel her warmth pressed against him and for her to whisper his name. To hold her lifeless form now would be a lie, a shadow of what had come before.

But that shadow was better than nothing.

He climbed onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her form.

"So many lies," he whispered. "You never told me things were this bad, you never told me what they were doing to you. All of this so I could touch you, touch your skin. I hate myself for doing this to you."

He knew what she would say in response. She would have said that it was her choice. That a single moment of his skin on hers was worth a thousand lifetimes. It wasn't his desire that she find a way to touch; it was hers, a desire to have every part of him.

But this didn't exempt himself.

"But this wasn't a lie was it, chere," he said, pulling her closer. "Us. The trickster and the thief. We were real. We were true. But somehow that makes it worse."

He reached into his pocket and took out the emerald ring box, flicking it open with his thumb. He showed it to Rogue, though her eyes we not open to see it.

"Its beautiful, isn't it? I thought it was a bit like you. A sparkling emerald to match your sparkling eyes," the emerald winked ironically at him in the light, teasing him. "Tis useless now."

The gold, the emerald and the diamonds seemed to glow pink as Remy's energy built up around the ring, reading to explode into a thousand pieces.

Suddenly, a movement caught his eye. The pink immediately faded as he sat bolt upright.

Rogue's eyes were open.


	24. Chapter 23: When Farewell is Forever

Chapter 20: Hand in Mine Part II Chapter 23: When farewell is forever.

Remy seized the sides of Rogue's head, dropping the ring on the bed, stroking her skin with his fingers as he shouted for help.

"Jean! Beast! Help!"

The Professor was the first person to burst through the door, Logan hot on his trail. Xavier quickly crossed over to the bed, taking in Rogue's open eyes and glancing up at the machines around her prone form. His fingers fluttered over her wrist, finding her pulse as Jean came through the door, wiping her eyes, followed by the majority of the team. The Professor shone a small torch into her eyes as Remy watched on helplessly.

At last Charles Xavier stepped back, trying desperately to keep his face calm and impassive.

"I'm sorry," knowing he was failing miserably at being strong. "Sometimes things like this happen…a reflex….it doesn't mean she's awake." Words, his safety and security failed him. "I'm sorry."

Fresh tears sprung to Remy's eye as he glanced at Jean. She was unable to hold his tearful gaze, her eyes dropping to the floor, a wordless conformation of what the Professor had just said.

A sob burst out of Remy's body, as the hope that had just filled him deflated. He stumbled back to the bed, tears dripping from his face as he stretched out his fingers and gently closed her eyes.

Panic suddenly rose in him, filling up everything that had once been love and hope. With another sob he fled the room, pushing his way roughly through the crowd.

Pietro moved to follow him but his sister rested her hand on his arm, restraining him with a touch and a shake of her head. Pietro remained where he was but his eyes followed the direction that Remy had taken to the bedroom he shared with Rogue.

"I think," Scott said strongly, his voice breaking through the silence and the sorrow felt for the gambler. "That we should take this opportunity to say our goodbyes, while there's still time." Everyone looked about abashed, not sure who should move first. Again, Scott fulfilled his role as leader. "I'll go first."

And with that, the leader of the X-men was left alone with his successor in all but name.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm not sure what I should say," Scott said from his seat from across the room, too afraid to approach, not worthy to approach. "Except for thankyou perhaps." He stood up sharply with an angry sigh. "But that word sounds so empty. How can you say 'thankyou' to someone who has saved your life, in more ways than one?" He stepped closer, his courage building. "But I will say that I will do as you suggested. I will fight, Rogue, because you taught me how. And words cannot express how much that means to me. You were right Rogue, as always you were right. And I have changed because of it, because of you." He lingered at her left side, unsure of what to do. Eventually, he stooped and kissed her cheek, a brotherly kiss. "Goodbye."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pietro and Wanda stepped in, knowing it was only fit that they said goodbye together. They stared down wordlessly at their fallen leader. To touch her seemed disrespectful, to speak seemed a slander. So they said their goodbyes in silence, with respect and love in their eyes, almost like a prayer. After a moment they left. Together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is for you," John said, placing a lantern on the bedside table. With a spark, the lantern ignited. "Not the lantern, the flame. That flame is yours. It's going to burn forever in me, because fire is purifying, cleansing. And that's what you did for me. I am a better man because you ignited it in me. Thankyou."

He bowed to her still form as light flickered over her.

"Thankyou."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"If you were awake now, you'd tell me what to do," Jean said quietly from the seat she had dragged to beside the bed. "You'd say 'Red, you are a plastic assed, bonehead. Ah always thought you were stupid but this is ridiculous'." She smiled. "Only it'd probably be a lot more insulting. I'm going to miss that, I think. The insults and the honesty seemed to go hand in hand with you. I'm sorry we weren't real friends," she looked honestly into Rogue's pale face. "I really am. I think you would have been a good one. I suppose we were too different. So I'm going to ask for one more bit of advice. Scott or Tom?" Rogue remained still. Not an eyelid flickered, not a hand flinched. Jean nodded. "That's what I thought you'd say."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I will love him Rogue." Kitty promised. "I will love him as I always have. And I wanted you there, my best friend, to see it." She gripped her friend's left hand in hers. "And I am going to miss you everyday. A part of my life is going to be forever empty. I will have Lance, but not you. It's so…ironic. Everything was going to be good, I had Lance and you. But now I have only one. And I feel guilty. Part of me is so happy, happy to be alive and to be with Lance but so sad, because you are gone. I'm sorry," she threw her arms around Rogue. "All of this is because of you and the only thing I have to offer is I love you. It doesn't seem to be a fair trade. I love you, Rogue, and with every step you will be with me. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou," each thankyou was punctuated by a kiss as Kitty clung, like a child, to her friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I will take care of her. This I swear to you on the blood I have spilt for you, on the blood you have spilt for me. The loyalty I feel for you will be hers, as it should be, the way you taught me, Captain."

Lance saluted smartly, the way he had done for the last two years, whenever they were inspected by superiors. And now there was no greater authority than his fallen leader.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beast and Storm entered together. Neither was sure of what to say. They had always known Rogue as a student, rather than a peer. This newfound respect for the child they had known, grown into a woman was new and somewhat alien.

"I'm not going to lie, Rogue," Ororo began. "You were never much of a student," Hank chuckled good naturedly in agreement. "But what you lacked as a pupil, you made up for in spirit. You were one of a kind." She glanced at Hank, tears in her eyes.

"And that spirit," Beast continued. "Is what will live on. Such leadership, such vivacity, the like of which we will never see again. And so, my dear," he laid a hand on her forehead. "Sweets to the sweet, and from thy fair, unpolluted flesh may violets, for faithfulness, spring. I thought thy bridal-bed to have decked, sweet maid, and not have strewed thy grave." He glanced down at Storm's questioning face. "_Hamlet_," he informed. Ororo nodded and leaned over to kiss the girl's cheek.

"Goodbye." She took the hand Hank offered and together they walked to the door. Before he closed it in his wake, Beast turned back.

"Farewell, rose of May."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"My arrogance led us here," the Professor whispered. "I am well aware of it now. I lost my way, Rogue, and you are a casualty of that…misdirection. And the ripples of your sacrifice, I don't think they will ever fade. I don't want them to fade. They must echo, they must remain so that I will remember all that I have done, to set me on course once again. I only wish it wasn't at such a cost." His eyes travelled to her face. He smiled. "It's funny, I thought this whole time that it was I who was the teacher, and you the pupil. Now I see it is the other way round." He rose from the chair. "I will obey your lessons, Sensei." He bowed, a closed fist pressed against an open hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"If you think I'm going to say goodbye Stripes, well you've got another thing coming," Logan growled, prowling by her bed. "'Cos I don't think you're going anywhere. You see you can't. Cos we need you here, cos your so damn important, to everything." He looked over at her form, pale and still, and the bravado melted away. He stopped his steps, moving closer. He ran his fingers over her face. "But I know you're tired, so tired. I looked so hard for you because in you I saw, I saw so much. Of myself and something more, something better. And you were better, better than I could ever have imagined. I'm proud of you, Rogue," he paused for a moment. "Marie. As proud as any father would be." He leaned down and kissed her forehead with fatherly affection. "Sleep tight, Stripes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"My sister," Kurt whispered. He sat beside her prone form, gently holding her hand in his. His face was dry now, his expressive, human eyes, were not tearful. If anything they were hopeful, grateful as he gazed on her face. There was a wonder there, a wonder at their relationship. His sister was a hero, a saviour. Pride, loyalty, wonder, love all mingled in his gaze. "My sister."

He could say no more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You have to say goodbye."

Remy looked up from the bed to see Logan's stocky form in the doorway.

"I don't want to," he muttered like a sulky child, turning away. He expected Logan to leave, to give him the respect that a time like this deserved. No such luck.

He found himself being yanked off the bed ad his legs were unable to respond speedily enough. He clattered to the floor at Logan's feet but before he had time to recover, Logan's hand seized him again, pulling him upright in a painful grip. Remy tried to struggle but it was in vain, he was caught in Wolverine's claws.

"Get off me!" He hissed, thrashing.

"You have to say goodbye!" Logan repeated, this time shouting, holding him fast. "Because if you don't you will never, ever forgive yourself! She's hanging on in there to say goodbye, I know she is! Who are you to make her wait?! Who are you?!"

"I'm the man who loves her, who is in that room dying with her!" Remy raged back. "And if I say goodbye, that's it! That is it! She's really gone! I'm not ready for goodbye, I'm not ready!" Hot tears spilled over onto his cheeks as his struggles grew weaker still. "I'm not ready!" He sobbed, feeling his legs give out beneath him.

Instead of falling he felt Logan's arms enclose him, support him, holding him close. Remy gripped the other man's shirt in claw like fingers, trying to hold on desperately as his body was wracked with sobs, shaking uncontrollably. His sobs escalated until he wailed like a wounded animal. Still Logan held on.

Eventually, his sobs ceased, his legs grew firm again. Remy pushed away from the smaller man and looked earnestly into his face, also streaked with tears.

"I have to say goodbye," Remy said quietly but firmly.

Logan nodded wordlessly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Apologies, I gave false hope for rogue's miraculous recovery. I hope you are not too disappointed. I'm pretty sure that the next chapter will be the last so the end is very much nigh. But is Remy going to say goodbye, can he bear to be parted from his love? Is the question he never asked going to be answered?

xxnightdwellerxx


End file.
